The 1839 large cent was redesigned numerous times. I was wondering if any documentation exists from the mint, newspaper articles, etc mentioning why this happened.
I remember seeing an article in the Numismatic News not long ago about the 1839 Large Cent. I'll see if I can find it and will let you know what it said
Ooops, sorry, the article I remember seeing was about the 1848 LC. Story was about how someone had counterfeited the 1848 LC. My Red Book & Type book didn't mention anything about the background info you're inquiring about...
All I can say is that it was probably not official and it may have just been the result of William Kneass never being satisfied, or a constant back and forth tweaking of the design by Kneass and Gobrecht. Starting in 1834 Kneass started making a lot of modifications to the coinage designs. The cent design was modified in 34, I think 35, 36, 37 and then five designs in 39. And the other coins went through a lot of short term design tweaks during this same period as well.
Whether there are any official documents discussing all these changes I do not know.
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