1 Penny - Albany Church

Albany Church coppers were issued by the Reformed Protestant Dutch Church of Albany around 1790, intended to address the chronic shortage of small change that plagued post-Revolutionary American commerce. Federal coinage was still years from meaningful circulation, and private and ecclesiastical tokens filled the gap in everyday transactions across New York State. Two distinct die varieties account for the paired PCGS numbers — one with a period after "CHURCH" and one without, a distinction that drives significant price separation between otherwise similar pieces.