Connecting The Dots – Part 2 Last week I started a thread concerning the dot found in the center of the design of early US coinage. This thread takes it one step further focusing on the 1816 Large Cent. Large Cent experts please correct any wrong information contained herein. There are nine variations of the 1816 Large Cent (N-1 through N-9). Of these nine variations only two were struck by a common reverse die. N-3 and N-9 were struck by the same reverse die. All other variations were struck by unique reverse dies. N-1, N-2 and N-3 were struck with the same obverse die. All other variations were struck with unique 1816 obverse dies The die marriage matrix for 1816 is as follows N-1 = OBV-1 + REV-1 N-2 = OBV-1 + REV-2 (Reverse die was also used to strike 1817 N-2) N-3 = OBV-1 + REV-3 N-4 = OBV-2 + REV-4 N-5 = OBV-3 + REV-5 N-6 = OBV-4 + REV-6 N-7 = OBV-5 + REV-7 N-8 = OBV-6 + REV-8 N-9 = OBV-7 + REV-3 All the 1816 Large Cent varieties can be attributed focusing soley on the reverse die except N-3 and N-9 which require further examination of the obverse die. Going back to the center dot – I used this design feature as a center pivot point for which diagonals were drawn through to create visual attribution aids for each 1816 variety. REV-1 through REV-8, OBV-1 and OBV-7 are provided in the following images. Which in a perfect world is all one needs to attribute all 1816 varieties.
