Large Cent & Bust Location To One

Welcome to the CCF!


The newcomb book is a bit outdated and can be rather obtuse imo. Noyes book is much better.

Found this not sure if it will help or not.

Here are a few hints to help attribute early and middle date Large cents...


First, look at where certain diagnostics are on the obverse, Where is LIBERTY, in relation to a normal positioning?
Does the date look kind of odd (pointy, wide, doubled ones, certain digits too low, odd spacing of digits, date into bust of Liberty, etc)?
What is LIBERTY's position in relationship to correct curvature, near or far from the rim, recut letters, broken letters, etc?
Are there recut stars, die breaks, Cuds, etc?
Look at Ms. Liberty's hair and Coronet, in relation to certain stars.
Then, look at the reverse. Do any letters look low, small, large?
Do any of the leaves have doubling?
Is there a center dot in ONE CENT?
Are there any die cracks or Cuds?
How about counting the berries on each side?
Take a look at the positioning of the fraction, and look at the digits, to see if there is an error. There are more diagnostics to look for, but this is a start.

From this site....
http://eac1.tripod.com/coppers.html


Hopefully someone more knowledgable than I will chime in.

Here's some pointers on determining variety for a coin. Except in rare instances, there will be more than one variety of dies for each year. For early dates, there are many varieties because dies didn't last very long. For late dates there are also lots of varieties because they made lots of coins. The middle dates typically have 10 or 15 varieties and are generally easier. The variation between varieties is also quite a bit more obvious. For later dates, it can be quite frustratingly subtle. Start on the reverse noting the position of the letters in the legend. Eliminate all the varieties that it can't be. This will typically eliminate 1/2 to 3/4 of the possibilities. Then compare the obverse to the obverses not already eliminated. Look for similarities in position and size of the date, stars and legend. Note that sometimes wear can make the size of these elements look different, so give more consideration to position than size.. Hopefully this process will cull it out to just one variety. If more, just study and compare it a bit more. With practice, you'll find that there are varieties you can identify on first sight. You may want to avoid coins after 1835 until you have some practice. They can be a bit tricky.