I was hoping to get a real bargain yesterday when a coin was mislabled and unattributed. Alas, at least two other eagle eye bidders also caught it and took me out of the auction. This is labled as a Large Cent and speculated it was a 1793, when in fact it is a basal example of a 1797 C-1 with edge lettering Half Cent. I'm not sure if that makes it a subvariety b or c. It list for $700 in AG3 in the 2010 Redbook so it sold for a fair price after I was out of the bidding. http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=400141929371&ssPageName=STRK:MEDWX:IT
I'll agree it is a 1797 C-1 half cent, but it is not a lettered edge it's a plain edge. The only lettered edge 97 C-1's are those that still show edge lettering from the TAL cents that were cut down and used for planchets. The 1797 half cent that comes with a lettered edge is 97 C-3b. The 97 C-1 is $300 in AG. I figure that one went a hundred dollars or so too high.
I was pretty comfortable with seeing A DOLLAR~ on the second edge shot and thought I could see some evidence of HUNDRED FOR on the first edge shot. If these are standard lettered edge and not TAL remant letters, then perhaps the buyer got a bargain after all.
