Clipped Large Cent

Great double clipped lc and a 1795 too, and the condition and surfaces just simply wow!

What an amazing find. The only thing I found with my metal detector was junk.

Another S-76b with a clip:

http://www.earlycoppercoins.com/179..._p_2752.html

1795 is the most common date for clipped planchets in the early date series in fact I believe in the entire large cent series. Especially the 1795 plain edge cents. The question is why?

I think I have the answer to that. In 1795 the mint was still making its own planchets. Production was crude and each planchet had to be handled individually for running through the Castaining machine to letter the edge. Clipped planchets would be spotted and rejected or jam the machine. Those planchets would then be recycled into Half Cent planchets.

In 1796 the mint began receiving ready made planchets from England that could go straight to the press. These had been through riddles in England that had removed most all of the clipped planchets.

But the 1795 plain edge planchet were made by the mint with its crude methods but they did not receive the individual attention because they were not put through the Castaining machine They were annealed, cleaned, and sent right to the press. This meant a lot more clipped planchets slipped through.