Catalog
1/2 Penny - Auctori Plebis
| Issuer | United States (pre-federal and private territorial) |
|---|---|
| Year | 1787 |
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| Shape | Round |
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| Obverse description | Draped and mailed bust of King George II facing left, occupying the majority of the coin's field. The effigy is rendered in a bold, somewhat crude style characteristic of American colonial copper token coinage of the period. The surrounding legend reads 'AUCTORI: PLEBIS:' (By the authority of the people), with the text distributed along the upper periphery separated by pellets. The portrait derives from earlier British halfpenny dies, repurposed and overstruck with a new patriotic legend. |
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| Reverse script | Latin |
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| Additional information |
The "Auctori Plebis" copper was struck in Connecticut in 1787, almost certainly by Thomas Machin's mill in Newburgh, New York — the same operation responsible for a significant portion of the lightweight, underweight coppers flooding the new nation's commerce that year. The phrase translates roughly as "by authority of the people," a claim no private coiner could legitimately make, yet the legal vacuum between state authority and federal monetary control made such assertions effectively unchallengeable.
Congress had chartered the first federal coinage under the Fugio cent that same year, but actual federal copper production remained years away. Private and state issues like this one filled the gap — and were frequently debased to maximize profit per planchet.