This one just arrived from across the pond for significantly less than F money. I grade her VF-20, which would make her my nicest draped bust large cent I have ever owned. Thoughts? Variety is S-253, R.2.
I like it. Nice surfaces on the obverse and only a little corrosion on the back. Overall, it has good eye appeal.
Nice coin. I agree with VF20. I saw a dealer at the Orlando FUN show with one of these at his table labeled "1805." Upon closer inspection, someone had tooled the date to turn the 3 into a 5. I told him so. He took it back and put it back in his case, still for sale. Mumbled something about having someone look at it, then turned away from me.
Because 1805 is a much tougher and more valuable date than 1803. It's not like an 1804, by any means, but 1805 is a good date for sure, as is 1806.
Not by much, and certainly not by enough to justify destroying a perfectly-good 1803. 1806 I can understand, though.
Well, all I can tell ya is what I saw. And the only reason I gave it a look was because the flip said "1805" and looked mid VF. BUT, it had some environmental issues, so it wasn't a "perfectly good" 1803. BTW, a quick check on eBay shows a nearly 7:1 ratio of 1803 vs 1805 large cents. So....
I never said they were as common as the 1803. I know from trolling eBay that 1805 cents are far less common.
TypeCoin, I never tried to put words in your mouth. Just pointing out to you and the readers of this thread that 1805's are harder to come by and more valuable than 1803's. Sorry to hijack your thread with my shady dealer story. You have a great coin there.
Now it is my turn to apologize. I quickly checked price guides because I was in a hurry and saw that they were the same. Now that I have looked at sale records, 1805s do sell for significantly more than 1803s. Now we can put this behind us.
