I have just been goin through some of my coin images an I noticed this coin (1810 Classic Head Cent) looks like an overdate? Unfortunately I only have my KM guide to go by at the moment (as I lent my red book to a friend :goof but I couldnt find any reference to a 1810 over 09 overdate error. My knowledge of American coins is fairly limited and I am not even entirely sure if its is an overdate, so im hoping for some advice or opinions? Thanks, Marco
Yes, it is an overdate. That's Sheldon-281 (Breen-1), rarity 1. It bears no premium for rarity, but I must say it's quite a nice specimen. It has "good honest wear", but a wonderful flan and nice surfaces. Not a cheap coin by any means. Very nice. No, it is not an error. In those days, it was quite a challenge making dies. It was ward work, they had poor working conditions and crummy quality die steel (and a shortage of it). For those reasons (and others), the mint was forced to squeeze as much life out of every die as possible. That included taking older dies (i.e. 1809) and overstamping a newer date (1810). This was "standard operating procedure"; non-optimal, but not an error. Congrats on a lovely little coin !
I would say that coin has 10 details, deductions for obverse corrosion pits and reverse rim hit, net 6. CQR lists it at $85, but somehow I doubt you could find one for that price. Maybe I'm wrong, but it seems they go higher than that. I like that coin. The corrosion pits aren't overly distracting, the fields are nice and even, and the porosity is limited to a few small zones. Lovely color. :high5: A nice example of a conditionally tough type.
It's possible the obverse pits near the ear are "as made" planchet voids. Hard to say from a picture. Personally, my best guess is it's post-mint corrosion damage.
