In another large (mostly foreign) coin collection I bought, there was a small container full of very worn/damaged/holed etc coins. Most from late 1800s to early 1900s. I searched one bag from inside the container and found an 1828 Half Cent! Super excited to find a coin like this even in such bad condition. It looks awful now, but I'll put it in an acetone bath overnight and see if it will improve at all. I started to search the rest of the coins not pictured and found two US large cents and some German States coins! (in equally bad condition) Will be a lot of fun to see what else there is.
Just what I was thinking. Probably not a button but who knows. These old half cents were unpopular and were used for many practical purposes other than spending. Bruce
1842 Braided Hair Cent (after acetone bath) The reverse is much nicer than the obverse, which seems to be common with some large cents. Is it due to a weaker strike or just more wear on one side?
Good catch, thanks for pointing that out! I wasn't aware of the different half cent varieties, this is my first half cent.