Grade & attribute this 1803 cent - fun analysis This post is directed at all the copper enthusiasts at CT. I bought this 1803 cent on eBay several years ago and never learned much about it. How would you all grade & attribute it?
The coin is dated 1803 The Louisiana purchase happened in 1803. $15,000,000 bought 828,000 square miles and there are 640 acres in a square mile. Therefore, each acre in the Louisiana purchase cost about 3 of these 1803 cents.
Based on the wide curved date and the 3 imbedded in the bust drapery, the small fraction, spacing of the 1 0 0, and the leaf position under D of UNITED I'm going to call it a Sheldon 244. Noyes calls it an R4. On condition I would give it a VF25 on sharpness and net grade of F15 due to the chatter in the fields. Overall a great looking '03.
Thanks for the input people! I am now searching the Internet for Sheldon 244, Noyes R4 and am finding much data. I look forward to additional opinions on the coin.
If Conder says S-254, then that is what it is. Nice coin, decent surfaces and color (from the pics). I grade VF 20 to 25, net a few points lower.
In comparing my coin to some really nice Sheldon 244 coins on the Internet, I noticed that the 3 is placed properly into the bust but the bar separating 1/100 was not placed like my coin. The S-254 seems to have the same 3 placement & the bar separating 1/100 is just like my coin. I guess it is the common S-254 and not the scarce S-244. Before making this post, it was simply my VF draped bust cent. Now I know a little more about the coin.:smile Thanks for looking & taking the time to help. I have a follow-up question- What book is recommended (with lots of pictures) that would help me attribute early large cents?
Walter Breen Encyclopedia of Early United States Cents 1793 - 1814 Personally one of my favorites is either the 1986 Robinson S Brown or the 1989 Jack Robinson catalogs from Superior. Every Sheldon numbers variety, most of the NC's, all pictured with the diagnostics listed for each die. The Jack Robinson sale also has more die states so you can see more examples. Both catalogs also have all but two of the middle date varieties pictured and described as well. The Jack Robinson sale also has most of the half cent varieties too. The Jack Robinson sale is almost a replacement for Penny Wimsey, Newcomb, and Cohens Little Half Sisters all in one volume. The down side. It is the pinnacle of 1980's catalogs. Actual size images and while they are clear they are halftones which means you can't magnify them. Second option is the Dan Holmes I sale from the Goldbergs. EVERY early date variety, pictured in large clear color images (2 - 2.5 inches or larger) that can be further magnified (The Holmes catalog is online. Check it out, you'll like it. http://images.goldbergauctions.com/php/toc_auc.php?site=1&lang=1&sale=54 ) Downside, the dies aren't described like the Robbie Brown and Jack Robinson sales were. The ideal would be the images from Holmes, with the descriptions from Brown. I'm in the process of creating just that. I have all the images from the Holmes I and II sales, and I have copies of the Brown and Robinson catalogs. I just have to meld the two together. Unfortunately all of it is copyrighted by others so I can't produce it as a marketable product. Of course you could make your own.
Very nice coin, it looks like a S254 to me as well. The 3 is not really inbedded in the drapery like on a 244 or 245, you can actually see the full outline of the 3 on your coin. Additionally, the leaf under T in CENT covers a decent part of the bottom of the T, that leaf is clear of the T on the 244 and 245. That leaf position tends to be another good diagnostic along with the leaf by the D and the date position. I would grade it 15 net 12+ for rim ding and contact marks, very nice coin. I second the Breen book as a reference but would add Penny Whimsy by Sheldon. Penny Whimsy is a good reference for attributions with pictures of each obverse and reverse die, but it also has a lot of general thoughts on large cents, grading, and value and it can be picked up cheaply on ebay. Both are good resources, and if I had to choose only one it would be Breen, but for $15 I would not hesitate to pick up Sheldon either.
It's the people here at CT that are awesome. A lot of good information was posted in this short thread. I was using the Goldberg's Dan Holmes auction catalog images to learn more about the coin. Conder101 listed the link but it is a good one & I want to repeat it for everyone: http://images.goldbergauctions.com/php/toc_auc.php?site=1&lang=1&sale=54 It would be great if this catalog with images (& imaging s/w) was available to load into a laptop. Anyone know if this is possible or if it is available for purchase?
It shows up in numismatic literature auctions frequently and it is not expensive because it is recent. Oh sorry you meant is it available for a laptop. No it is not. But it you are willing to spend a little time working on it, it would be possible to step through the catalog lot by lot, highlighting, copying and pasting each lot into a word file. That would give you a version on your laptop. I could have mentioned Penny Whimsy but you have to keep stressing do NOT get the 1990 edition, the plates are horrible. (Second printing is better than the first printing but still not good) If you want to get Penny Whimsy get one of the earlier editions. Fortunately since the 1990 edition came out it has caused the prices for the earlier editions to drop.
