From Jeff Rock’s “Rosa Americana” FPL #26, where it was described as: “45. 1785 Vermont Landscape Copper, the second VERMONTS obverse. Ryder-3, W-2010. Rarity-5. Very Fine, the strike better than often seen on the variety, though with areas of weakness as nearly always found, and with some light surface issues. The obverse is weak at VERM, the reverse at DECIMA, the remainder of the legend bold, as is the 1785 date below. The iconic design of the Green Mountains is strong at the viewer’s left, a bit weaker at the right, the plow below sharp. The stars and rays design on the reverse mostly strong save for the area under DECIMA. The coin is a pleasing deep tan color, the surfaces with light roughness to them, but with no major marks from circulation. This piece may likely spent some time underground, lost when it was fairly high grade, but if so the surfaces escaped getting either dark or too very rough or pitted. This is, by far, the rarest of the collectible Landscape varieties (the contemporary counterfeit Ryder 5 in both struck and cast issues are so rare as to be uncollectible), and it is seldom found anywhere near choice. Indeed, Tony Carlotto noted in his reference on the Vermont series that for a Ryder 3 “the chances of having the luxury to be picky are slim.” The publication of Q. David Bowers’ recent book on Vermont coppers has certainly added interest to this fascinating series – a compact 39 varieties, ranging from common to exceedingly rare and with a great diversity of design types and both authorized and counterfeit issues. This one is nearly as attractive as the Scherff coin I sold on my 19th fixed price list (at $2,999), though priced at significantly less money, and at almost half of what the VG-8 in the 2006 C4 auction realized! This variety is seldom found pretty, and never found cheap, with even a corroded Good bringing $690 in Stack’s January 2012 Americana sale. The only really nice ones to come on the market in recent years was the AU Garrett coin, which had a small planchet flaw, light pitting and on a somewhat ragged planchet, which still sold for $28,800 in the Stack’s Bowers February 2019 auction, while Syd Martin’s very Choice VF brought $15,600 late last year. The Anton collection had a surprising double struck example in EF that was a bit of a bargain at $13,200 While this will not challenge those pieces in grade or overall eye appeal, it does have excellent design detail, and I doubt you can find a stronger specimen for anywhere near this price!” This coin is actually a pretty gloss peanut butter tan brown; it is NOT as green as it looks in my photos. If you have Jeff's FPL, the photos in his catalog are much more accurate in terms of color. Jeff priced this coin at $1,000; my asking price is $1,250 but make sure you SIGN IN to see your discounted pricing.
