Newman Portal Search of the Week

A Newman Portal user searched this week for “Washington New Jersey.” The Newman Portal identifies an article on the subject by John Griffee in the September 1996 issue of Penny-Wise. The “Washington New Jersey” refers to the Maris 4-C New Jersey state copper, likely struck in 1785 or 1786.  The variety is exceptionally rare with only 3 known.  It mates an obverse bust of George Washington with Maris reverse C. An example appeared in Stack’s Roper sale in December 1983, lot 298, the same previously appeared in Henry Chapman’s sale of the Parsons collection, June 1914, lot 221, at which time the piece was the second known. The “Washington New Jersey” cent is catalogued as GW-04 in Neil Musante’s Medallic Washington, and pedigrees of the three known examples are found in New Jersey State Coppers by Roger Siboni, Jack Howes, and Buell Ish. The proper classification of the piece draws multiple opinions. Is it a Washington piece or a New Jersey copper? Siboni, et al, catalog the piece as an “undated pattern” in the New Jersey series, while Musante places it in the Washington series and  writes that the piece had no relation to New Jersey at the time it was struck.Link to John Griffee article on the Maris 4-C in Penny-Wise: https://nnp.wustl.edu/library/book/519343?page=11Link to Stack’s John Roper sale (December 1983): https://nnp.wustl.edu/library/auctionlots?AucCoId=3&AuctionId=516579Link to Henry Chapman sale of the Parsons collection (June 1914): https://nnp.wustl.edu/library/auctionlots?AucCoId=20&AuctionId=511100