Hey guys, I'm having trouble with this one. IMO, Braided Hair large cents are the toughest coins in the US series to attribute. Just when I think "I've got the hang of it", along comes a toughie. And here it is. At first, I thought it was gonna be easy with all those reverse die cracks. However, it doesn't match anything in Bob Grellman's book exactly. It is possible this is an intermediate die state which Bob hadn't seen. Anyway, my best guess is N-23. Does anyone have a learned opinion ?
I'm gonna agree with N-23. I got the date reference numbers of 662377. Looked pretty clear to me. Jumped to 32, 23 or 11. The 23 looked to be the best match to me. Eliminated the 11 and 32 and focused on the 23. Can't verify the lines below R in Liberty, the reverse seemed to line up right for me. My guess on die state is between c and d. Nice piece....:thumb:
Thanks ! The problem I had with crowning this one N-23 was Bob's statement "Weaker crack always present from dentils through top of ATE." which this coin doesn't show. The reason that's such a problem is this die was also used on 1846 N-17 a year earlier and it shows the crack "from dentils through top of ATE." How could an 1847 coin not show a crack which did show on the same die a year earlier ? Maybe the answer is the crack is on my coin but I haven't spotted it yet.
I looked for that as well, my guess (and only a guess) is a earlier die state. Are you going to Annapolis?
Yes, I'm totally jazzed about Annapolis ! I think I'm just gonna stick with N-23 as a working hypothesis and bring the coin to EAC. I might try to mail the photos to Chris and Bob and see what they think. If so, I will certainly post up. It's a paradox surrounded by a conundrum wrapped in an enigma ! Whatever that means...
I have to agree with the N23. I agree with all that has been said here. In regards to the ATE. The crack can be very faint, one thing that I have had luck with is using an old drywall trick. Turn off the lights and shine a flashlight across it from the edge of the coin. If there is a crack there it will show up just like nail holes in the drywall.. : ) Good job guys on this one. Congrats on the coin. I like it.
Good thought thanks Jim. Re: Annapolis, have a daughter in Severna Park only a few miles from the hotel, and she needs some electrical work done, go guess where I'm staying.
I wish I could assist, but I only have Early date and Middle date reference material. General questions like how a 1847 could show an earlier die state than a 1846. It can be hypothesized as: 1. A reuse of an older 1846 obverse die after the 1847 obverse die. It happened early with Reverse B of 1799 preceeding Reverse GG of 1798. 2. The die could also have been reworked with die cracks polished out. 3. The third and most exciting possibility is a new die discovery. Unless the die was reworked, the prominent die cracks should show up on all later die states. If they're not present on the late state N-23s, you could have a discovery piece. Of course if you're like me, you see things that aren't there. But in this case, they're quite prominent. I sent a 1798/1799 to Bob this morning for an expert opinion and I suppose this is the best way to get expert advice on attribution.
It's possible. Yes, it did happen in earlier days. I have not heard of any occasions of that practice as late as 1847, but anything's possible. I thought about this... but if they went to the trouble to lap the dies, why did they only grind out some of the die cracks ? Maybe they started lapping, smoothed out the STAT die crack (which was light), then gave up on the heavier ones. That would be fabulous, of course. I doubt it, since the die cracks that I do have match N-23. The problem is I don't have all the cracks one expects on an N-23. In this case, I'm not seeing things which should be there !
