What is wrong with my braided hair large cent?

My only guess could be really bad striking. I’m talking about the “United States in America”

 

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Yea, that is a little strange . huh. Pocket coin ?

 

Cheap eBay pickup could be anything. I don’t see how it could be damage over time though

 

1839, silly head, (see the curl of hair in front of coronet and the shoulder doesn't pass through the hair) but yeah looks like it might have been a bit of a light strike. but the botton of the neck line isn't right.. should be a point right above the 1... The more I look the more that date is way out of place... https://www.usacoinbook.com/us-coins/1839-varieties-coronet-head-large-cent.jpg

 

It's fake

 

I hate to agree but the more I look/compare it the more I think Dwhiz is right...

 

You need to also show the edge.

 

Is this the coin the OP has posted?
https://www.usacoinbook.com/coins/5577/large-cents/braided-hair-liberty-head/1839-P/

 

Who would have bothered faking that? Here's one on eBay - just under $20 with shipping - Silly Hair variety - https://www.ebay.com/itm/1839-Coron...575359?hash=item56f1f557ff:g:KoEAAOSw6Fpf~lVO

 

Please educate yourself before spewing out incorrect and harmful information like this

 

This coin is a completely genuine 1839 N-8 “Head of 1840” Braided Hair large cent. The USofA on the reverse was punched in low relief relative to the wreath, so circulation wear, die wear, and any grease in the dies could make the words very weak in low grades.

If any of you thinking fake would have put in a minimum of effort to seek out other low grade examples to compare to, you would have found out that the missing USofA is actually fairly common for this variety.

 

Here’s an early die stare with bold letters in the low grade:



Here’s a later die state in higher grade. Note how weak the letters have become:



And here are 4 examples with the USofA nearly obliterated:



How long did it take me to find these images? 5 minutes. With just 5 minutes, you could have prevented yourself from looking foolish and spreading misinformation

 

That’s because it isn’t the Silly Head. It’s the head of 1840

 

I was beginning to think it was fake when I was reading lol. I like the look of this minor error thank you for the info!

 

That is odd... I swear I looked at a dozen references/pages and none showed that variety... good catch TC!! Even weirder because the reference I posted was from the same site as yours but didn't show the 40 head...

 

Here's the reverse of my '39

 

Well, it’s in the Red Book and PCGS CoinFacts. Those seem like the first places to check. I never use USA CoinBook because it is way too incomplete.

 

I hate when peeps argue .

 

Some posters wrongly attributed the coin and/or called it fake while it’s likely not. That’s what caused the argument.

 

hanks to everyone that commented regardless of what you had to say, you were all here to help! It’s going up as today’s toner Tuesday on my Instagram. One of my only toned pennies. Not very pleasing to look at though haha