I just picked up this off eBay and hope to find gold. It is definitely a S-76, but one photo gives me hope that it is the S-76a (R5) and even some hope that it is a very rare S-76a without the edge lettering (R7+?). Breen mentions three or four that he had heard of but only verified one.
It's definitely 76, and from the look of the edge I'm convinced it is 76a. Now the only question is does it have the edge lettering. (too bad about the plugged center hole.)
I've tried to blow up and enhance the contrast of the photo of the edge. There appears to be something on the edge, but it looks different from the typical edge lettering. Since this was coined about the same time as the Jefferson heads, which have similar thick and thin variations and also at least three different lettered edges as well as evidence that at least one was struck on another coin rather than a new blank, I was wondering if you knew where I could get photos of the edges of these coins. The current belief is that the Jefferson's were struck in a basement and not the Mint means there is probably no connection other than time and conditions over shortages of usable copper blanks. But if there is something weird about the edge upon inspection, I'd love to compare it to those edges.
I've found two examples on Heritage Auction Archives. One is described as a 76a Unlettered (VF30) 1/13/2005 and the other as S-76b on a thick planchet (VG8) 1-8-2003. Whether these are different than the rumored coins or not cannot be discerned though the VF30 was shown to Walter Breen and Del Bland at some point by Jack Robinson with technical date provided by Darwin Palmer, ie 197.1 grains - 1.153 inches diameter.
Hopes were dashed. I received the coin today and it's definitly the thin planchet. The edge has dings and what looks like letters, but they are far too small to be those used on the thick Cents so it's either an optical illusion or one of the variant planchet stocks they tried in 1795 using a coin with smaller letters. But they aren't clear enough for me to see and I can't get a clear shot of the edge to blow it up and extract the information. Perhaps I'll eventually learn how to focus my camera in manual mode when the automatic won't cut it. For now, I'll just assume it's the human mind seeing patterns in the randomness.
Really? As wide and flat and squared off as the edge appeared in the earlier images I would have sworn it was a thick planchet.
I am going to check the weight, but it's definitely not the old standard. But it might not be the new standard either. I could swear there are small letters that look like New York on the edge, but they are much smaller than the old lettering. one of the plain edge thicker planchets is on a non standard planchet weighing 196.8 grains according to Breen who also mentioned seeing the variety struck on another cent, size 19 and being 1/16th wider than normal. The NC-2s were struck on TAL tokens about this same time, so the mystery isn't solved yet. The Jeffersons also are reported to have at least three different edge lettering devices so it could be almost anything. I wish it were just a tad sharper. I also got a Large Cent (called S-74/75) which appears to be struck on a TAL with the reverse side bleeding through the obverse (the flip of the two NC-2s) but the obverse appears more like the S-78 to me. This is fun.
Just got back from a jeweler who weighed it at 10.7 grams or 165 grains. Right in line with the typical thin planchet, 27/28mm is on the money. But the edges are sharper than most plain edge varieties. Perhaps there is evidence of grip marks that I'm seeing.
