1/2 Penny - Nova Eborac

New York was one of the few post-Revolutionary states that never passed formal coinage legislation, meaning the Nova Eborac coppers were struck by private contractors operating without official state authorization. The Latin name itself — Nova Eborac being the Latinized form of New York, derived from Eboracum, the Roman name for York, England — gave the coins a veneer of governmental legitimacy they did not technically possess. Multiple die marriages account for the spread of PCGS numbers across this type, with varieties differing in the direction the seated figure faces and the style of the reverse design.