(sold for $26.0)

1785, United States of America. Rare Constellatio Nova Copper Coin. Corroded VG+

Mint years: 1785 Condition: Corroded VG+ Denomination: Constellatio Nova Copper Mint Place: Birmingham, UK (for circulation in the US) Material: Copper Diameter: 27mm Weight: 6.65gm

Obverse: Divine illuminated eye, surrounded by 13 stars. Legend: CONSTELLATIO NOVA

Reverse: Large script letters ("US") within wreath. Legend: LIBERTAS ET JUSTITIA . 1785 .

The CONSTELLATIO NOVA tokens were plentiful in America in the years just preceeding the first large scale copper coinage production. By the second half of the decade several mints had opened in the states and in Vermont and several Birmingham firms were producing tokens specifically for American clients. As a successful early condender the NOVA token has an influence on or been affiliated with several other early American coppers. Sometime during the second half of 1785 William Coley of New York designed the first Vermont landscape coppers adapting the Eye of Providence design with the blunt ray from a Nova copper he had seen in circulation (and in 1786 using the Nova pointed ray design).