I’m putting together a typeset of US coins. Well actually it’s a subset of a typeset since the early issues are too pricy for me. When it came to Large Cents in the 1816 to 1857 range I thought there were only two types, Coronet and Braided Hair (or Matron Head and Young Head.) But after looking at what I‘ve got versus the pictures in various catalogs I now think there’s three types. And what’s worse the various catalogs don’t agree. Here’s my coin which I thought represented the earlier Coronet (or Matron Head) type: <a href="http://mywebpages.comcast.net/dcderoo/1-1838-AU58.jpg"><br><img src="http://mywebpages.comcast.net/dcderoo/1-1838-AU58-25.jpg"><p><b>Click To Enlarge</b></a> BUT it doesn’t look like the pictures of the Coronet (or Matron Head) type. It looks more like the Braided Hair (Young Head) type. It seems that 1837 to 1839 was a crossover period. Is this correct? If so, then I have to get one of the earlier coins (1816-1837.)
Well, I found out how to insert an image. BUT I don't want to insert my full image. I want to insert a clickable thumbnail.
Great Question. There are several Types of Large Cents. (More when you go back to earlier dates) Matron Head 1816-1836 Modified Matron Head for 1837-1839 Braided Head 1839-1857 Now there is like you said a crossover period in there. In 1839 as an example there was what is called the Silly Head and the Booby Head. There are also large letters, medium letters and small letters. If I could see the image I could probably tell you which coin you have. I use this site to help me when I have trouble. http://staff.jccc.net/scarr/photo_gallery.htm Don't know who it is but they have some great pictures and alot of the coins have the attributes on them! Good Luck. Hope this helps. Jim
I don't consider myself an expert by any means, but as both a type and large cent collector, I think you have hit on a very interesting point... IMO, the current definition of types, as far as large cents are concerned, leaves quite a bit to be desired. Some sources say two (1816-39, 1840-57), others, including the Redbook, say three (1816-36, 1836-9, 1840-57). In any event, once you study the coins themselves, you'll realize the definition of "type" is rather arbitrary, particularly considering how the design of the large cent changed during this period. IMHO, there are actually quite a bit more than three types, as the transition from the first "matron head" large cent in 1816 to the last one in 1857 was gradual...and you're right, much of the transition takes place between 1837 to 1839, but there were many design changes that occured outside of this time period (more earlier than later). So in the end, given this "gradual design change" the number of types is left to the collector -- so decide how YOU define the types and collect them that way....Mike p.s. I have grouped my large cents of this period into three types, as defined above. You may view them here: http://www.pbase.com/miker/large_cents
Well, I'll take a shot at posting my image, and if it comes out large, I apologize. I know large images cause grief to dial-up users. (Image removed. See thumbnail below.)
Bummer. Large image. So this is one of those transition issues. Not the Matron Head, but not quite the Young Head either. I've got a Young Head plus this one. Now I have to go back and get a Matron Head. Still don't know how to do a clickable thumbnail in here. I can do it on boards that support HTML. And I host my images on my ISP so I don't use the sites that assist you.
If it's under 100K just hit the paperclip and upload it as an attachment. It automatically makes a clickable thumbnail.
http://mywebpages.comcast.net/dcderoo/1-1838-AU58.jpg Testing (terrible thing to do in a live thread, but hoping this will be a one-time thing only.)
Interesting. I've got no paperclip on a normal posting window, but I've got one here in this quote/reply window. Am I still too new? Nevermind, I found it. I needed to select "Go Advanced".
Another thing I think will work is hit the image button and insert the thumbnail, then highlight the link it puts in and hit the globe with the chain on it and insert the url to the full image. I'm pretty sure that will work.
These guys pretty much have it right. Steve Carr's site is a good help, and he is truely an expert on large cents. It was a blast to meet him in Colorado this summer.
Great, clear, straight forward visual comparison. The side-by-side images make it easy. The tough part was probably getting the coins in the first place.
Kanga, That's a very attractive 1838 and one I would be proud to own...Mike p.s. thanks for the kind words.
For future reference, you can embed the URL in IMG tags. Like this: {img}http://mywebpages.comcast.net/dcderoo/1-1838-AU58.jpg{/img} and substitute brackets for braces, i.e. '[' for '{' and ']' for '}' Like this:
