Was able to purchase a small old lot of coins from a fella who had collected as a kid. Some neat stuff and I think I paid a fair price. Have a look:
Very cool! Looks like all common, low grade stuff, but it is still cool to see what this guy hoarded from his pocket change when he was a kid! To be able to find Barbers and Seated Libertys in change...
The 2 cent pieces are larger than the cents that were made at the same time, however. By this point, they had given up on the idea of having "a full cent of copper" in each cent, and transitioned to subsidiary (fiat) coinage.
That is the one I suspected you were thinking. It is not actually clipped - it is stained or toned. If you look closely, you can see that the coin itself is completely round.
Thanks for the variety attribution. Is there an online tool that helps identify these? I love digging into such things but can’t seem to find a guide that is any more than just a list of Newcombe types with photos...no description of what the variety is (coinfacts.com). There’s plenty of tools out there for capped bust half dollars, but not so much for large cents.
For middle date large cents (your 1817 is a middle date), I would suggest The Cent Book by John Wright. It can be found at the Newman Numismatic Portal: https://nnp.wustl.edu/library/book/530759