1797 Large Cent Authenticity

to the CCF.

to the Community.

to the CCF!

Thank you everyone for your greetings and responses! I feel much better about it now. I'm not in possession of a scale but I will get one soon. The other question I have is, what grade would you give this? I know it's quite corroded but what details grade would you give it? Thank you again!

Zurie explained the bifurcated letters, the explanation for the slightly larger size is because the early cents (until about 1834) were struck without a close collar. Without a close collar the final size of the coin is determined by the force of the strike and how well the planchet was annealed. This meant that every cent was a slightly different size. They are suppose to be about 28.5 mm but the "open collar" coins can be as much as 30 mm or more. The largest I've seen was one that was double struck that was 32 mm. Once the close collar was introduced the diameter was fixed and they were all the same size.

Thank you everyone! What a fantastic community to be a part of!