I recently purchased an 1846 large cent off of eBay to make an upgrade to the one in my album. It was particularly sharply struck AU. I received it today and noticed that it was one of the nicest strikes that I had ever seen on a large cent, noticed that the rims are completely squared off to the point that they are almost sharp and noticed that some remnants of mirrors remained around the devices. Though this would be a PR-50 and at best, with an estimated mintage of only thirty pieces, it would be a pretty nice score and a fun discovery. Does anybody have a resource of the diagnostics so that I can see if I have uncovered a rarity?
This is about the best I can muster at the moment. I'll try to get some better images in the morning that would better show the color and luster. The color is actually quite nice showing deep blue and red toning.
looking at my own 46 I have to say yours does have considerably sharper rim. otherwise here some old pics for comparison... some minor corrosion but the price was right and the eye appeal self evident
I dug out my Grellman and the result is, your images are not good enough for me to determine the die variety.
Well I'm not holding my breath that it's a proof @harris498, but it does have the classic telltale signs that I would look for. Either way, its home will be in my album for a while.
This is my proof half cent for comparison. It's in a holder now, but I can tell you that the edge of the large cent has a more squared off rim that the half cent.
I was struck by how squared off the rim is on your second picture. Denticles are sharp and well formed, too.
