I was looking through Ebay and found what I initially thought was a new variety of 1797. After bidding (I always bid first and then look further), I noticed the numerator was a style which was not used until 1803 and saw the coins true ID as S-258. But someone went to great pains to make it look like a very low grade 1797. I just wonder why? Now I've notified the owner twice but he doesn't believe me. Oh well!
Yes. This is the link: http://cgi.ebay.com/1797-Large-Cent...78?pt=Coins_US_Individual&hash=item4cf1e77e36 It looks like a 1797 until you start attribution. Then, it shows larger lettering and different numbers as well as different reverse characteristics.
Compare the relative price of a s-258 to any 1797. The latter is roughly 5x the price of the former. 1803 is a common date. 1797 is not. Hope this helps...Mike
those pictures are so bad I wouldn't even try to attribute the coin from them so I will take your word that it is an S-258. But they are good enough to tell that it CAN'T be a 1797, and is 1803 to 1807. Two things jump out at me. It appears to be a large fraction reverse, and the hair under the R of LIBERTY is way too far right to be a 1797, Almost all of the 97's have the hair wave below the left serif of the R. If the pictures were a little better My bet would be that we would also see that it is type II hair. Not used on 1797. It also has a type II curled leg R in LIBERTY not used until 1798. All 1797's should have straight legged R's.
