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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;Jimski, post: 2889278, member: 77373&quot;]1794 Liberty Cap cent, Head of 1794, variety Sheldon-22, R1 very common</p><p>[ATTACH=full]693989[/ATTACH] [ATTACH=full]693990[/ATTACH]</p><p><br /></p><p>From: <i><a href="http://www.coinfacts.com/large_cents/liberty_cap_large_cents/liberty_cap_large_cents.html" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://www.coinfacts.com/large_cents/liberty_cap_large_cents/liberty_cap_large_cents.html" rel="nofollow">http://www.coinfacts.com/large_cents/liberty_cap_large_cents/liberty_cap_large_cents.html</a></i></p><p><i>The cap represents freedom -- hats such as this were given to slaves once they became free.&nbsp; The freedom cap was a popular symbol in America during the Revolutionary War, appearing on numerous buttons worn by patriots and soldiers.</i></p><p><br /></p><p>From:<i> <a href="https://www.ngccoin.com/coin-explorer/liberty-cap-cents-1793-1796-pscid-12" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://www.ngccoin.com/coin-explorer/liberty-cap-cents-1793-1796-pscid-12" rel="nofollow">https://www.ngccoin.com/coin-explorer/liberty-cap-cents-1793-1796-pscid-12</a></i></p><p><i>The Liberty Cap large cents of 1793-1796 are the classics of early American copper coinage. They represent the third step in the infant Philadelphia Mint’s quest for a permanent cent design, succeeding the Chain and Wreath cents that began the new decimal coinage early in 1793. This third design was created by Joseph Wright ... In August 1793, Wright began work at the Mint as an engraver and die-sinker …</i></p><p><br /></p><p><i>Copper cents were still a novelty when Wright cut his dies. Most Americans had yet to see any of the new Federal coinage, still limited to cents and half cents. The citizens of the sprawling nation—only in its sixth year under the Constitution—thought in terms of Spanish milled dollars, state copper coins and private tokens (when they thought of coins at all). So it was most important that the public would accept the new cent, particularly since the Chain cent received such harsh reviews when first released.</i></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>I can’t find a link to this anymore, but the information is correct.</p><p><br /></p><p><i>Following his </i>{Joseph Wright’s} <i>death in 1793 the design was modified by engraver Robert Scot. Sheldon varieties S-21 thru S-66 are attributed to Scot.&nbsp; All were struck in 1794.&nbsp; The dies were made by hand, accounting for the large number of varieties.&nbsp; Breen indicates that Scot used the same obverse device punch for S-21 thru S-44 and a 2nd for S-45 thru S-66.&nbsp; The hair was engraved into each die separately.&nbsp; Letters and border were added to the die with separate punches.&nbsp; </i></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>From a paper Breen delivered at the conference listed below, Breen recounts how he discovered that the hair was engraved in each of Scot&#039;s 1794 cent obverse die, even though a device punch was used. My comments are in {italics}.</p><p><i><u><a href="http://numismatics.org/digitallibrary/ark:/53695/nnan11280" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://numismatics.org/digitallibrary/ark:/53695/nnan11280" rel="nofollow">http://numismatics.org/digitallibrary/ark:/53695/nnan11280</a></u></i></p><p><i><u>Robert Scot&#039;s Earliest Device Punches</u>, Walter Breen</i></p><p><i>Coinage of the America&#039;s Conference at The American Numismatic Society, New York City © The American Numismatic Society</i></p><p><br /></p><p><i>Scot&#039;s heads on most of the half dollars of 1794-95 are so nearly identical that they must have been made from a device punch. The same remark holds for the eagles on these half dollars, and for their smaller counterparts on the half dismes of 1794-95. ... </i></p><p><i><i>But if so, why are the cent heads not more alike? Why are they so different that even Dr. Sheldon could go on believing until the end of his life that Scot made every cent die by hand?</i></i></p><p><br /></p><p><i><br /></i></p><p><i>… when I superimposed a transparency of the earliest Scot cent obverse, S-21, successively on slides of the next dozen obverses in Sheldon&#039;s order (through S-40), I found that the facial features, busts and caps match identically except for occasional minor reworking of some folds of cap. Poles, lettering, dates, and borders do not; nor are the heads identically centered on the dies. … The greatest differences are always in the hair … <i>Maris&#039;s Egeria</i></i>{S-27}<i><i>, Scarred Head</i></i>{S-24}<i><i>, Ornate</i></i>{S-28}<i><i>, Venus Marina</i></i>{S-32}<i><i>, and the rest in this group, are therefore not merely sisters, they are clones wearing different hairdos.</i></i> {Maris studied the die varieties of the 1794 cent in 1869, and gave the varieties names instead of numbers.&nbsp; These names are still known to numismatists, but have been replaced by Shelby’s classification system, i.e. Egeria is Sheldon-27 or S-27}[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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