1844/81 Braided Hair Cent Overdate?

Posted this in an earlier forum and was about to sell it. I took some photos through a loupe on my cell phone so they are not the best. Any input would be of help. Thanks

edit: The location in question would be the upper right of the first four. In the pictures, it looks like a scratch or deep crevasse but it is actually a slight bulge as would be expected from the loop of the eight.

 

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Yes, that appears to be a 44/81.

 

Here's a link to a Heritage auction with high-res pics of the overdate:

http://coins.ha.com/common/view_item.php?Sale_No=1122&Lot_No=233#Photo

Again, looks like a 44/81 to me...Mike

 

I have flipped back and forth from the above photo to the enlarged HA, and although there is something in the approximate area, it seems possible it is indented rather than raised. There are nicks on the other digits that might represent hits similar to that area. The cross arm of the first 4 also seems to have damage on the serif. I am unsure as to identification without a slightly sharper photo, and I understand this one was taken under adverse conditions. Could be.

Jim

 

I agree with Jim. :thumb: With better pics, we can tell better but with the current ones, it's hard to tell for sure.

Ribbit

 

I would say its not because I can not see the lower serifs for the 1 at the top of the last 4.

Here is a close up of one of mine.

 

I see both the remnants of the 8 sticking out of the first 4, and the remnants of the 1 sticking out of the second 4. They could certainly be well-placed nicks, but I highly doubt it, and stick by my original assessment.

 

looks like the one I have, so yeah.

 

Here's mine:






Ribbit

Ps: It does appear yours is one but I'd still like better pics before saying for sure.

 

That is exactly what my looks like under a loupe. I thought that was mine when I first saw the picture.
Mine also does have that line coming out of the second four. So that proves it, thanks.

 

That's good enough for me! :thumb:

Nice find!

Ribbit

 

See, thats the thing: I almost missed it. I put it up for auction on ebay this morning. I went to a coin shop at around 12:00 today and bought a stronger loupe. I upgraded my 10x to a 16x. I didn't notice this with the 10x loupe and once I saw it with the 16x, I pulled it from ebay. Some people on the previous post about this coin said 20 was too much to pay but I guess I did alright. It is cleaned and has a bit of verdigris on the reverse but excluding these setbacks, it nets to about an vf40

 

Well I am glad that the pic helped. I still don't see the Lower Serifs but if you say they are there! Bingo, you have a winner my friend!.

 

Ok, stupid question, how did we end up with a 44/81 overdate. Seems strange.

 

was stamped upside down first

 

Yeah, should really be "44 over upside down 18". I've always scratched my head on the naming of that one.

As I understand things, the date on these coins was stamped into the working die with a 4 digit logotype. What likely happened here was someone took the 1844 stamp, and at least partially stamped it upside down. They then flipped it rightside up and finished sinking the date.

This error gives you some insight into how the dies were actually made. Kind of neat....

 

It's certainly looking like you got a better deal now!

"VF-40"? Are you sure you didn't make a typo there?

FWIW, I'd grade the coin F details and net it down to VG for the cleaning.

Regardless of the grade/value -- it is still a nice coin and super-cool overdate!

 

You can also see the foot of a 4 sticking out of the top right of the 8. It is visible (barely) on the first picture of the OP and all of the other known 44/81's that were posted

 

I'm wondering how peeps are grading a coin with pics of the date only? :goof: I would think someone would ask for pics of the entire coin, obverse & reverse, in order to grade it. :whistle: So the only thing I can think of is it has been posted before and the peeps giving grades are using the earlier post to grade from but I don't know where those pics are. :goofer:

Ribbit

 

Conder,

Great point and one which I was going to bring up if you had not! Most folks miss the foot of the "4" sticking out of the top right of the "8" but I think it is one of the Key diagnostics for this Variety. In fact it is not an 1844/81 Variety at all, it is an 1844/4481 or actually as below.


Frank