1787 Token 1/2P Auctori Plebis Half Penny

Coin Details

Description

Bearing the Latin legend AUCTORI PLEBIS ("By the Authority of the People"), this 1787 copper token belongs to a group of privately struck pieces whose exact origin remains a matter of scholarly debate. Cataloged as Whitman 8420, the Auctori Plebis token features a laureate bust on the obverse and a seated figure of Liberty on the reverse, a design vocabulary shared with several other early American token and state copper issues of the 1780s. The AUCTORI PLEBIS legend asserts popular sovereignty as the basis for the coinage's authority — a politically resonant claim during the Confederation period when questions of monetary authority were central to the debates surrounding the proposed federal Constitution. Struck in copper, the coin weighs approximately 7 grams with a 28 mm diameter and plain edge. Cataloged as PCGS #601. The rarity notes classify this type as common for the series, making it one of the more obtainable entries in the Post-1776 Private and Regional Issues category. The Auctori Plebis tokens are generally attributed to the same network of minters and die sinkers producing Connecticut coppers and related issues during this period, though definitive workshop attribution has not been established. For colonial copper collectors, this token provides an affordable entry point into the diverse landscape of privately produced early American copper coinage, where political messaging, commercial enterprise, and monetary necessity intersected in the years before the federal Mint brought standardization to American coinage.

Rarity Notes

Common for the series.

Cross References

Whitman 8420