Picked up this nice old copper with a tiny cud at 12:30 on the obverse. It has an old cleaning, but otherwise a nice circulated coin.
@Lawtoad Question: Would you rather have a large cent with a small cud or a small cent with a large cud? Chris
Forgive me but I’m unable to see the CUD. Are you referring to the area below the “1” in the date? If so, it doesn’t seem to touch the rim. I thought a CUD had to reach the rim to be called that. Or am I wrong? Again?
N = Howard R. Newcomb, who wrote a book on varieties of middle and late date large cents. N-2 means the second variety of the year. R-2 = rarity 2, which means the coin is pretty common.
The Rarity is from the Sheldon Rarity Scale R1 Over 1500 estimated: Very Common, readily available R2 601-1500 estimated: Common, not too difficult to find R3 201-600 estimated: Less Common, available at most shows, but in limited quantity R4 76-200 estimated: Scarce, somewhat difficult to find, only a few likely at larger shows R5 31-75 known: Very Scarce, may or may not find at larger shows or auctions R6 13-30 known: Rare, unlikely to be more than 5 for sale anywhere in a year R7 4-12 known: Very Rare, almost never seen, only one may be offered for sale in a year R8 1-3 known: Prohibitively Rare, one may be offered for sale once every 5 to 10 years The rarity numbers are sometimes seen with + or - after them. This indicates that the coin is in the upper(fewer known) or lower(more known) third of the rarity range. I just picked up a 1794 cent with a rarity of R-5+ which would mean roughly 31 to 45 known, the upper third of the R5 range.
