Nice, I definitely would have bought it for that, There's some really nice details still despite the corrosion
I would have bought it. There's so much romance in these coins. The sharpness grade as I view it might reach F-12 to F-20 for the center of the coin on the obverse. (We don't have to get into the net grade.) So at least some of the coin has sharpness and in an important area, the center part of the obverse. I like it as it is, without cleaning. If that is original patina under the crud, that's another nice thing about the coin. The corrosion tells us it has travelled to many places. Perhaps the next step is to learn a bit about how to attribute the coin? For me, this can be fun. All the best.
Was just thinking...some folks like to go for a complete collection of early American cents--but at the lowest level of grading, say, all AG3s. Or, as your coin, all culls. There will be dates like 1793, 1799 and maybe a few others that might be difficult if not impossible to find, even if culls. One might not develop an "eye candy" collection--but it would be an authentic collection, just the same. Many people love these coins. There is so much written about them and so much to learn about them. One can find some of the original research and literature on these coins at the Newman Numismatic Portal, nnp.wusl.edu. Here are some early coppers from the website of the American Numismatic Society. It is interesting that they have many of these cents in their collection that aren't "perfect." (http://numismatics.org/search/results?q=department_facet:"United+States"+AND+fulltext:cents) Good luck!
Like me! I have 15 left before I get to a complete collection, and while my standards are normally much higher than AG03 I do have a couple (rare-ish dates) near that grade that I am happy with because I never would have found them at a price i could afford if I held out for a higher grade, here are a couple of them:
I really like your coins. In some ways (maybe most will disagree) this type of coin may better show the wear and tear that is appropriate in being 200 years old. AU 55 etc.--splendid coins--these may look newly minted (especially if recolored). Don't know if it's the lighting--but the coins each seem to have some nice toning.
