An Excerpt From The December 8, 1983 Catalog of
The John L. Roper 2nd Collection
Dr. Samuel Higley, a physician by training, was also a skilled metallurgist and the first individual to produce steel in America. He settled in Granby, Connecticut in 1728, and opened a copper mine which he worked himself. The ore was of exceptionally good quality, and much of it was exported to England, but because of the shortage of coins in circulation at the time, he also minted, starting in 1737, a small quantity of copper tokens. Although they were never authorized, the pieces at first bore the denomination of threepence. Because of their relatively light weight, he was soon forced to remove the denomination, replacing it with the legend VALUE ME AS YOU PLEASE. Dr. Higley died in 1739, and for a brief time his brother John Higley continued the coinage.
The Roper Collection is without doubt the finest group of Higley coppers ever to appear at auction. The offering of a single Higley, usually in the lower grades, is always a special opportunity. Here we find no less than seven different examples of this coinage, including several better condition pieces as well as the celebrated Wheele Goes Round copper. Given the realities of collecting in the present day, it is doubtful if another offering to match this one will soon be available to the collecting community.