NEWMAN PORTAL SEARCH: WASHINGTON NEW JERSEY

Parsons and Roper lot images

A Newman Portal user searched this week for “Washington New Jersey.” I always speculate what the item is before actually looking, and suspected it would be a piece of Washingtonia related to New Jersey. Being an easy clue to guess, I was correct! The Newman Portal identifies an article on the subject by John Griffee, “New Jersey Coppers, Part 33: Maris C,” in the September 1996 issue of Penny-Wise.

“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=11

Link to Stack’s John Roper sale (December 1983):
https://nnp.wustl.edu/library/auctionlots?AucCoId=3&AuctionId=516579

Link to Henry Chapman sale of the Parsons collection (June 1914):
https://nnp.wustl.edu/library/auctionlots?AucCoId=20&AuctionId=511100

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