1802 Lg Cent Grade? Opinions

I'll say AU details (cleaned).

your 1-4 are good assessments for a general type coin. they are not necessarily good assessments for what represents a desirable large cent to the advanced large cent collector. some of the more desirable cent varieties were manufactured with poor centering or poor strike and only exist that way. the manufacturing was quite inconsistent.

this is S-237. its an R-2. it a fairly common variety that comes nice. a great variety to target if you are looking for a type coin.
wide date and large berries on the reverse.

this is an XF details coin to me. there is some noticeable flattening of the hair above the eye on the forehead. too much to hit au imo. its been cleaned and poorly recolored (this coin could be improved by someone with experience who knew how to fix the damage a previous owner did to it). I would eac grade it at net 15 or so. not a bad coin at all. also not at the level that you are referencing with your examples.

the example of the 1798 ex naftzger/reynolds coin is one where the provenance is demanding a premium. fair or not you cant really compare a normal large cent to a condition census one from the naftzger set. the naftzger set is one of the greatest large cent collections ever assembled. reyonlds 1798s are also a well regarded set. people pay a premium to get into coins with that kind of history. that s-184 is (i think) the 4th finest known for the variety and second finest available to collectors. (there are 3 uncirculated copies two of which belong to the ANA museum)

that is a solid coin and one that I think many people would be proud to own.

here is my S-237. its also been cleaned an recolored. it also used to belong to tom reynolds. I grade mine EAC 25 net 15. I would expect a VF30-35 strait grade on this coin. its been cleaned and recolored though so they should details it.

The only plans I have for this is to keep it as is, in the book.
Thanks for your input. Alpha33 out................

Thanks to your thread, I may just attempt to re-darken this large cent of mine. Can't hurt I have $0.00 into it.
It doesn't need to be cleaned (someone has already done the dirty work) just re-darkened, correct? I don't think I want to carry it in my pocket, it's practically mark free. Don't want to un-nessasaraly screw the fields up with scratches. You mention "Dellers Darkener".

Please excuse me if I am direct with my comment, but that is the most unusual (and least natural color) I have ever seen on an early copper. I wonder what was done to it.
Since you said it cost you nothing (?), it probably does not hurt you much, and that is good.

Yes, you can try some artificial means to re-color it. I have never tried them, and never will.
You will have some success just exposing the coin to direct sunlight, for example on a windowsill. In my opinion, that is an acceptable approach.

This is a process that can take a veeeryyy looong time (years, actually), so it works better if you are a young collector.