Editor’s Note: For nearly 70 years, the feature-rich pages of Coins magazine, Numismatic News’ venerable sister publication, have tracked the history, fun and the growth of this great hobby, while also attracting new collectors to pursue what was once deemed the “hobby of kings.” Dusting off these time-aged issues, from the early 1960s and beyond, each installment of “Past Times with Coins,” written by its former longtime editor, explores what nuggets of interest they contain.
The rare colonial Higley Coppers, 1737-1739, have long fascinated collectors as to their origin and use.
“An old philosopher once said – ‘It ain’t what you don’t know that gets you into trouble. It’s what you know that ain’t so.’ Sometimes the mass of legends conceal the genuine