Hello everyone! I'm trying to get better at my attributions with Large Cents.... so I am hoping to get your opinion! Through one of the websites for coin sales, I came across this unattributed coin and thought it would be fun to figure it out. Here is the link to the sellers site: -->http://http://www.ebay.com/itm/1795...83?pt=Coins_US_Individual&hash=item337f8c7f67 After looking and looking, I have narrowed my opinions down to two options. They are the S76a and the S77. My diagnostics are based soley upon the Obverse of the coin, where the reverse is toasted. In addition, the seller makes no mention of the edge (plain or not). The diagnostics I used to narrow down to these two were: Position of the base of the T in Liberty in conjunction withe the Hairline at the Forehead. However, that only got me to those two selections. I narrowed it down even further by seeing that the S77 has a weak pole due to the die being ground down..... This coin appears to have this, but certainly could be due to wear. So my guess is this is an S77..... Any opinions?
The problem is this obv was used for S-76a, 76b, and 77, Also this obv was polished several times and had several interrupted marriages to the 76 rev and the 77 rev so that weak pole can be found on both varieties. What I see on the reverse looks like the "shadow" of ONE CENT placed very high in the wreath and close together. On S-77 the denomination is centrally located with a good space between the two words. So i would suspect this is a S-76 but 76a or b would depend on whether the edge in lettered, or the weight of the coin.
Thanks for your input Conder. At least I can say I was close on that one.... I wasn't aware that the Obverse was used on all three of those.... I'll have to check them closer. As for the reverse, I don't really see the details you are seeing.... i'll have to study it closer! The Sheldon Book I have is great, but sometimes, I swear it could use a bit more details... or at the least, better pictures as a point in comparison. I tend to use the Sheldon book to get an idea, then use the Heritage Auction site to look at the real life coin.
Another site I use is http://www.largecents.net/collection/index.html - maybe not all the varieties or great details on some of the coins, but it helps.
Actually you can see the "shadow" of ONE CENT better if you aren't too close. Another good site for seeing all the varieties is the Dan Holmes collection, every variety including the NC's and most of them in excellent condition. (Those that aren't in excellent condition are because the variety doesn't come in nice condition.) http://images.goldbergauctions.com/php/toc_auc.php?site=1&lang=1&sale=54
