I recently acquired an early very worn large cent. However, it has what appears to be a brand on it. The reason I think it is a brand is I read a letter from Colorado stating how many ranches that have and there was a picture of a brand that resembled what was on the coin. The marking is kind of like an upsidedown question mark. I heard that the value will increase if the marking can be identified. The coin is in my truck and it is raining so I can't post a picture right now. Any suggestions on how to research this?
It's a counterstamp like Pickin and Grinin says, King George. I don't know what it means, if anything. The stamp is much newer than the coin, but still appears to be old. It could be a brand, but I'm thinking it probably isn't. A brand suggests a western origin, possibly territorial, and the few legitimate western issues I've seen...including California Gold Rush pieces...are always struck on silver or gold coins. Silver and gold were king out there, plus these old Large Cents just didn't circulate out west. Having said all that, I know nothing about brands, so who knows. If it were, it would increase the coin's value though. Thanks for posting it. Bruce
Dagnabbit!! It appears that CoinTalk ate my post. Here we go again. Thanks for all the ideas. The 8 appears to me, esp. under the eyeglass, to be 2 circles over 2 circles. Like they were trying to have a 3-D effect. One encircles the R in LIBERTY, the other just the lady's hair. It could be that they were trying to make a pair of glasses. The other symbol may be a hook or a sickle. In branding lingo when a symbol is laying down it gets the adjective "Lazy". So is it "Lazy Sickle", "Lazy Hook" or "Lazy Hook Look", LOL.
