Can you please help me with variety before I purchase this Large cent?

Thanks for looking! I'm looking to purchase this 1802 large cent from FeedBay..... and wanted to make sure I had the attribution correct before pulling the trigger. It's price is tempting.

The coin is not attributed by the seller, so using Penny Wimsey and Heritage Auction site information, I have deduced the S-230 variety using the Date position and spacing, the 1/100 fractional font position and the LIBERTY positions over the hair locations.

Any thoughts? If I'm wrong.. that's okay too! I always learn something new from everyone on this site!

Thanks in advance!

 

Log in or Sign up to hide this ad.

For the 1802s, concentrate on the reverses first. There are much more glaring differences than the subtle differences of the obverse. Then look at the differences in the leaf positions, lengths of the leaf at T, berry stem lengths and positions, missing berries or missing elements on the ribbons and of course missing stems.

The subject coin is S-237 and there is die crack confirmation with a crack running from the leaf below N(I) to the N and just a hint of it's journey to the rim. Other cracks are missing, so it is a middle die state.

 

As always, thanks Marshall! Your knowledge is not just impressive, it is amazing!

Did you mean an S-237? I may not be good at this yet, but pretty sure it's not a 1797.

Thank you for the tip on what to look for. Sometimes very hard to get an idea of where to start. Penny Whimsy certainly does a good job.. but it can be a bit overwhelming and confusing in the beginning. Heritage Auctions has great pictures that I often use as a referral when unsure of what Sheldon meant!

Funny thing is that I had narrowed this down to the 230 and 237... The berry's spoke to me for some reason, but due to what you described as the middle die state, I wasn't able to narrow it down by any noticeable cracks.

Thanks again!

 

Just a quick follow up... I'm sitting here studying the image closely, and one of the identifiers you used was a crack running from the leaf below the N(I) to the N. I've stared and stared and just don't see that crack. Am I missing something? I see what appears to be a mark (PMD) that runs from the tip of the Flower below the N(I) to the I(T). Are you seeing this with the naked eye, or are you using photograph manipulation (like turning it negative)?

Thanks again!

 

Yes - he means S-237. I agree with it. I see the crack and tried to high light it for you. If you go to heritage you can see some high grade examples and the crack is more clear.

 

Here is a Late Die State from the Holmes Collection: