Higley Copper

The Higley copper is one of the most colorful and celebrated issues in early American colonial coinage, produced entirely as a private venture by a Connecticut physician and mine owner rather than under any government authority. Struck from copper mined near his own property in Granby, Connecticut, the coin reflects both the entrepreneurial improvisation and the chronic coin shortages that characterized colonial American commerce.

What makes the Higley copper especially memorable is its blunt public honesty about the tension between a coin's stated face value and its actual worth in the marketplace. After colonists resisted accepting the coin at its originally stated threepence value, given that copper of that size was not really worth so much, later varieties dropped the fixed valuation altogether in favor of the now-famous phrase 'VALUE ME AS YOU PLEASE,' letting the market determine what the coin was actually worth in trade.

Because of its tiny original production and its status as one of the first coins struck from domestically mined American metal, the Higley copper today ranks among the rarest and most sought-after pieces in the entire American colonial series.

Dr. Samuel Higley, a physician who also owned a productive copper mine near Granby, Connecticut, began striking his own copper coinage privately around 1737, taking advantage of both his access to raw copper and the persistent shortage of small-denomination coinage in the colonies. His earliest issues declared a face value of threepence, paired with imagery of a deer and the confident inscription 'I AM GOOD COPPER,' along with a design showing three hammers and a crown on the reverse.

Colonists, however, were skeptical of accepting a copper token at a threepence valuation that exceeded the coin's practical worth as raw metal, leading to public pushback against the coin's circulation at that stated rate. In response, Higley adjusted later issues to remove the fixed threepence claim, instead adopting the frank and now-famous legend 'VALUE ME AS YOU PLEASE,' effectively acknowledging that the coin's worth in trade would be whatever buyers and sellers agreed to, alongside a modified reverse removing the crown symbol on some varieties.

Production was small and short-lived, ending around 1739, likely tied to Higley's death, and the coin's combination of private colonial enterprise, market realism, and rarity has made it a legendary and eagerly sought piece among collectors of early American numismatics ever since.

Early Higley coppers show a standing stag or deer on the obverse with the legend THE VALVE OF THREE PENCE and the date, while the reverse depicts three sledgehammers arranged around a crown, with the legend I AM GOOD COPPER. Later varieties retain the deer obverse but change the legend to VALUE ME AS YOU PLEASE, and the reverse typically shows the three hammers without the crown, along with the roman numeral III in some variants.

The coin is small and struck entirely in copper, without the silver or gold content found in many other colonial-era issues, reflecting its role as small change rather than a store of significant value. Striking quality is often somewhat crude, consistent with a small-scale private minting operation rather than a formal government mint.

Because genuine Higley coppers are extremely rare, and the coin's fame has made it a target for reproduction and forgery over the years, any potential example should be authenticated by a recognized numismatic expert or grading service before purchase or serious consideration.

Higley coppers are among the rarest and most celebrated coins in American colonial numismatics, and authenticated genuine examples, even in modest condition, typically command prices well into the tens of thousands of dollars or considerably more, reflecting both their scarcity and their outsized historical fame.

Specific varieties, particularly the earliest 'VALUE OF THREE PENCE' type with the crown reverse, can carry different premiums compared to the later 'VALUE ME AS YOU PLEASE' issues, with rarity of the specific die variety playing a significant role in price alongside overall condition and eye appeal.

Given the coin's fame, rarity, and price level, authentication through a major grading service is essential, and prospective buyers should be especially cautious of reproductions or altered pieces claiming to be genuine Higley coppers.