Hey people, I found this 1803 large cent Several years ago . It's a sm. date/ large fraction . I just need your honest opinion to it's grade (obviously details grade) . Be nice. It was in the ground a long time. Thanks.
Yeah, dark copper is hard enough to photograph. Add a bit of porosity to the mix, and it gets even harder. Check out the one my local buddy dug. In some places down here where there is well-drained, sandy soil, the old copper can come out really well preserved. (Alas, my own solitary Draped Bust cent find was not in such a place, and was heavily corroded.) Several of these Sheldon-166 variety 1798s with the telltale die break on the reverse were found in this region. I speculate that a keg of them was probably shipped to Darien or Savannah by around 1800, and they made their way throughout SE coastal GA. My same buddy found a 1798/7 which was nearly (though not quite) as nice as this one.
Yes, but the 1798/7 was worth even more. I sold both coins for him. Wish I had kept one. It would be nice to have one of these really sharp DB cents in my collection, knowing something about the sites where they were dug. I'd make an exception to my "no details-graded coins" rule for something like that. Here is something else my buddy Billy R. dug down here. Looked like a piece of waste metal slag at first. Then you saw the stamps on it. Billy took the money from that, bought a new high-end detector, and then went out on the beach with that and found a big platinum and diamond ring worth a goodly chunk of change. He truly is one of the most skilled AND lucky diggers I've ever met.
Very difficult to say what condition the coin was in before it hit the ground, too much corrosion, but somewhere around VF30 to EF40 IMO. Net is about G4-G6.
It probably had VF-EF detail when it was lost the ground. I think that the corrosion has removed some of the fine detail. The net EAC grade would be in the FR to AG- 2 or 3 range.
Just adding my similar one (Mine's an S-260); it originally came back for a friend as "authenticity unverifiable" but on a re-look through my contact came back at least certified. PCGS in particular has been very tough on details type early coppers in my opinion with several from friends coming back "AU" (not the good kind!) lately.
