Which sounds better to you: the worst of onegrade level or the best of another? The quality-price disparity is even more striking with coinsthat are technically just two points apart, an AU58 and a MS60, where just the faintest bit of rub(often nothing more than oft-noted cabinet friction over a couple centuries of storage bycollectors) can equate to tens of thousands of dollars difference in pricing, yet that cheaper 58coin will look better than the 60 one does.

Collectors of a certain age had a shorthand term for this kind of quality: "a Robert Martincoin." Robert, who passed away far too soon, had a legendary appetite for pieces that had theright look. A Robert Martin copper coin was a nice even brown, smooth and hard surfaces witha bit of gloss, and a wholesome, natural appearance that had not been "improved" by anythingother than a dollop of Coin Care. A coin could have clips or planchet flaws - which were ofcourse there before the coin was struck, but whether the coin graded VG or AU, it would be freeof unsightly damage. Collector Jerry Bobbe has called that sort of damage "HIPS" - HumanImpairment, Post Strike. The problem most collectors face is that there aren't all that manypretty colonials out there - most of them do have some sort of HIPS. For many varieties, inevery series, there might only be a couple coins that are choice and the rest have varying degreesof problem - and for some varieties, the ONLY survivors may all be ugly. Do you eschew thoseunattractive coins, knowing you will never get close to a magic number if you do (think 300Connecticut coppers or 100 New Jersey copper varieties)?

Robert Martin was actually one of thefirst collectors of the modern era to get to the 300-variety mark for his CT coppers, but his eyefor quality made him dislike some of the pieces in his own collection which were not up to hisstandard. So he did what was right for him - he sold those pieces off, knowing he would neverbe able to get to that variety count again (and making less-picky collectors quite happy, as thosediscarded coins put at least two others over that 300 mark in one fell swoop). A look at theStack's Bowers offering of Robert's frontline collection shows the result of his quest, and thereare few coins that even the pickiest collector wouldn't happily welcome into their own cabinettoday (though he did buy some less attractive secondary coins that fit into his provenancecollection - Painted Die Varieties, or with paper envelopes and tickets from earlier famouscollections).

The other side of the coin, so to speak, is represented by Syd Martin, also gone far toosoon. While Syd could and did buy many extremely choice coins, he was a "completeist" - hewanted every variety, and he came closer than anyone in the history of collecting colonials todoing so. That meant taking a truly ugly coin if that was the only example of a variety available- though if a notable upgrade appeared later, he would happily buy that one too. Syd appreciatedevery coin he had - and for those of you who have bought things from the recent auctions of hiscollection, you might have noticed that the handwritten envelope for a lower grade common NJcopper he paid $50 for has just as much care and attention to detail as the envelope for that Unc.NJ that cost him $50,000. Syd had no qualms about paying top dollar for a newly discoveredvariety, even if it would become the least-attractive coin in his collection of that series.

There is no right or wrong way to collect here, and it is truly a personal choice for everynumismatist. Truth be told, I veer far more to the Syd side of things in the areas that I collect, aswell as in the colonial issues I deal in. But a completeist can certainly appreciate a coin that ischoice, so this list will feature pieces that check that "pretty" box, regardless of grade - with, asalways, an emphasis on coins that are excellent value for the money.

This list is being issued before the ANA convention, and will likely be the last list I getout in 2024, as the Fall is taken up with travel to England for Conder-token stuff (a series Icollect), the C4 convention in Baltimore, and then the winter holidays. Speaking of Condertokens, many of the pieces that colonial specialists collect are, indeed, Conder tokens. From theTalbot, Allum & Lee mules, the Kentucky tokens, and many of the early Washington issues, allwere made in England, and listed by authors as British Conder tokens from the time they weremade. The colonial-Conder gap should not be as wide as it is: Conder tokens were all 18thcentury productions, mostly in copper, with lots of die varieties, ranging in rarity from commonto exceedingly rare, and with contemporary circulating counterfeits in all of the larger series,which flooded the market and led to the collapse of public trust in circulating copper, leading to anational coinage that drove them (mostly) out of circulation. Sound familiar? It's literally theexact same playbook as the state copper issues here on this side of the Atlantic.

To introduce you to the wonderful world of Conder tokens - where you can getsomething dated 1787 in full mint red for a couple hundred bucks, I might add! - I will make anoffer to all readers of this price list. If you email me privately that you are interested, I will giftyou a one-year digital membership to the Conder Token Collectors Club, which will also allowyou access to all 80+ back issues of the club Journal. No obligations, no pressure, if you like theclub you can renew (there are both print and digital options, the print one obviously costing moresince printing and postage costs are involved), and if it's not for you, you simply don't renew.You have absolutely nothing to lose, and may find that you can get your 18th century copper fixand discover an awful lot of interesting tokens along the way.

To read earlier E-Sylum articles, see:
ROBERT MARTIN (1946-2017)(https://www.coinbooks.org/v20/esylum_v20n46a07.html)
ANS 2020 HUNTINGTON AWARD TO SYD MARTIN(https://www.coinbooks.org/v23/esylum_v23n43a20.html)
SYDNEY F. MARTIN (1945-2021)(https://www.coinbooks.org/v24/esylum_v24n04a02.html)