Please, Convince Me To Like Large Cents

Please, I beg you, do all you can to resist that budding interest in large cents. There's already too much competition for the old coppers!

Well, I can't exactly be a good one here as I've bought every single large cent that came my way which was a total of exactly two.
One of those two was a very nice holdered 1841 in decent VF with a slight rim ding, which I bought for just over thirty bucks (well, actually 1000 rubles, it's just my habit for some reason to convert sums I paid for coins to dollars). The dealer even remarked on how hard it is to find a large cent over here in Russia, and that it was a very good choice for me (and from what I've heard on this forum, it seems that even in the US, where it's relatively easy to get a large cent, when you get one it's usually not 1841*).
The other? A beat-up, probably harshly cleaned, dateless low-grade Matron Head (I see 1823 on it but I doubt anyone else would) that I've bought for three bucks (aka 100 rubles, of which half was actually shipping) on Molotok (the Russian copycat version of ebay) from a guy who apparently couldn't tell a large cent from a small one (it was listed as "1890(?)" but the pic was clearly of a large cent, and when I did receive the coin and asked the seller, he was oblivious to it being anything but an IHC - despite having an actual IHC as his very next auction).
In all, my experience with large cents was basically that they're incredibly hard to find, and if you get an opportunity to buy one for what isn't obviously too huge a price** it's probably better to buy until it's too late. This all, of course, relates to Moscow City and is probably completely useless anywhere else


*) At just over 1.5 million, 1841 has the third lowest mintage among Braided Hair cents, after 1857 and 1855 (and that latter one only barely). I've also heard that Petite Head cents in general are relatively uncommon (Photograde certainly confirms that - only one of the many Braided Hair pics is a Petite Head). It's just my incredible luck that the only large cent I've seen on sale for over a year was a more elusive version
Fun fact: even though it's completely obvious to the eye I've never seen any online guide recognizing Petite Head (1839-1843) as a separate type. Then again many don't recognize Braided Hair cents at all (lumping them together with Matron and/or Classic Heads).
**) For example, I probably won't buy a large cent for $100 or more. Then again I probably won't buy any coin for $100 or more unless it's made of gold

I'll try the opposite. I've got well over 100 Albums of almost every type of coin. And in most instances, several of each. Worst case is 12 Mercury dime Albums. However, many others like that but not so many duplicated Albums.
ALL except one type of coin. The Large Cent. I only have one Album for those and it is far, far from complete. AND it is only a year set, none of the zillions (exageration) of varieties. I go to about 2 to 4 coin shows a Month and have been for a long, long time and those are one coin you just don't see a lot of there or anywhere. Even worse is the fact that in most price listings, most coins start with G-4 but those dumb Large Cents start with AG-4 and most are less than that. And even those are in the hundreds of dollars. They are very difficult to find in coin shops, coin shows, flea markets, etc.
So my suggestion is to stay away from those unless you have sort of an unlimited amount of money. And even then, you'll never complete a set. So go back to Lincoln Cents or even Jefferson nickels.

I'll have what Super Dave's having!

SuperDave . . Super die crack on the 1818.

Here are a few that are less beat up:



**Scratch on the holder.




**Few holder dings at the top.

I have all of the years except for 5. I'll probably never be able to get a 1793, but I'm working on the others.

With a modest budget I have to settle for some that aren't so pretty, but they do have character.

Collecting old copper is a wonderful trip back in history.

Here are a couple of my favorites

1803




1797