Well, Poor + Damaged is poorer than Poor, of course! Now here's a very very poor example of a coin that I find very interesting - the 1794 Half Cent - 81,600 Minted, PCGS estimates about 2500 survivors! (From rarecoinwholesalers.com) The Coinage Act of April 2, 1792 authorized the Mint and prescribed the standards for the new federal decimal coinage. The smallest denomination provided for in the law was the copper half cent, first struck in July 1793, just four months after the Chain cent appeared. Equal to 1/200th of a dollar, the half cent had more spending power than many modern Americans realize. A dollar in 1793 was a respectable amount of money, although no U. S. dollar coins would be struck for another year. Instead, the new copper cents and half cents would be fractions of the Spanish milled dollar or Piece of Eight, the hefty silver coin struck in both Spanish and Latin American mints. Widely used throughout the Western Hemisphere, the Spanish coins were very familiar to Americans and served as the basis for the U.S. silver dollar coin issued in 1794. Since the Spanish fractional one real or bit was equal to 12-1/2 cents in decimal coinage, a half cent was necessary for making honest change. Few Americans living away from the Atlantic seaboard, however, actually handled many of these “Little Half Sisters,” as copper coinage student Dr. Warren A. Lapp nicknamed the denomination. Although half cents were issued for more than 60 years, they remained America’s unwanted coins. They proved to be of little use, circulated grudgingly if at all, and were often kept in dead storage at the Mint waiting for infrequent orders from the infant nation’s banks. Production—sometimes for several years—was often interrupted by shortages of copper and lack of demand. This small denomination may have suffered from identification with the poorest classes; they were supposed to be its biggest users, at least according to Robert Morris, the Revolutionary War financier and one of the architects of the U. S. coinage system. Morris subscribed to the age-old but misguided view that smaller denominations brought lower prices, allowing the poor to purchase more with their money. Unfortunately, not only did the public have little use for half cents, but for generations collectors also ignored the little copper coins. Only recently has a birth of interest been sparked, with the publication of new definitive works in the mid- 1980s: American Half Cents, the “Little Half Sisters” by Roger Cohen and Walter Breen’s Encyclopedia of United States Half Cents have attracted many new devotees to this long overlooked denomination. 1794 was the second year the half cent was issued. The 1794 Half Cent is a modified version of the 1793 Liberty Cap Half Cent, with the head of Liberty turned so she is facing right. There are two major sub-types for this year: Low-relief Head and High-Relief Head. Large and Small Letter edge variants appear only on the Low Relief Heads; rarity depends on the variety with which it appears (PCGS). The 1794 is more common than the 1793 half cent (mintage around 35,000) but there aren't a lot of either of these around today.
You should see some of my metal detected coin finds.. here is an example of a Flying Eagle Cent I dug up this past Saturday.. Holed.
This is a delisted Civil War token which features CSS Virginia. These tokens are very susceptible to rust, and this one has lots of it. At least metal from which it was made was there at the at the battle between the Monitor and Merrimac.
I'll tell you what's poorer than poor- the only coin ever graded a 0 by PCGS! Image courtesy of PCGS. This is a date less Peace dollar with a handwritten label. Also notice the top left coin mistakenly graded "PRO2" instead of the proper "FR02".
I actually have one of those lol! It's a Classic Head large cent, and while it was said to be 1810, you can tell that it's a Classic because of the head. It's literally the perfect lowball coin.
I think I found one worse than my Poor Damaged 1794 half cent, and given that it's a 1793 half cent, I figured I'd revive this thread for same. Approximately 20 to 25 or fewer are known in Mint State—approximately 250 to 325 survivors in all grades. I'm curious to see what it looks like in hand under my magnifier and scope. For less than $800 I figured this is my best shot at having one of these rarities and I do love me some damaged early American history - so here she be, graded by ICG P01 Details - Corroded-Scratched. Now I do hope to see some of more of your favorite uglies!
The late Carvin Goodrich, who was a well known collector in the New England area, owned one of the rare 1802 “old reverse” half cents for many years and didn’t know it. From most angles, the reverse of the coin appeared to be a blank. Then, as he described it, he had the coin lying on a desk when sun hit it in just the right direction. He saw the hint of the distinctive lettering and realized that he had an important rarity! I saw the coin many years ago. It was obvious to me, but if you weren’t looking for it, it was easily missed.
