1800 Draped Bust Cent For Your Grading Opinions

Dr. William Sheldon actually is the person responsible for the numerical scale most coin folks know and use today 01 to 70 scale. It first came about in his book Early American Cents and was refined for inclusion in his famous Penny Whimsy book which he attempted to list every variety of early Large Cent and classify them by Sheldon Number - it is a method that is still in use today by numismatists, collectors and Third Party Grading companies.

To better understand the EAC standards of grading it helps to read the following book:

Grading Guide for Early American Copper Coins
by W.R. Eckberg, R.L. Fagaly, D.E. Fuoss and R.J. Williams

It's the first book to be published by the Early American Copper Collectors club (EAC) in 2014. The book covers all aspects of the grading of early copper coins. Profusely illustrated with high quality color photographs, it addresses sharpness and net grading of Half Cents and large cents, and sharpness grading standards of federal and state coppers coined under the Articles of Confederation.

Sharpness standards for half and large cents are given by type with all major types fully illustrated in grades from AG to MS. Where there are varieties within a type that show different wear characteristics (e.g., Chain cents, 1794 Half Cents, Liberty Cap large cents of different dates), all are fully illustrated in grades where their wear characteristics differ from the standard pattern.

The differences between the traditional technical grading standards used in EAC and the less rigorous standards used commercially are illustrated. The differences between technical and market grading are explained.

Additionally, there are sections devoted to the history of grading, proper handling and preservation of early coppers, detection of counterfeits and alterations, and the effects of die states and different varieties on grading.

Finally, there is a section on the pricing of coppers graded by EAC standards as opposed to those graded by commercial standards.

It is usually available from literature and copper coin dealers, such as Kolbe & Fanning or Charles Davis Numismatic Books. If they are out see Pennywise the EAC quarterly journal for a recent issue and look at the classifieds in the rear of the journal for ads, usually there are a few for sale, ebay is another option as is Chris McCawley (EAC Dealer) http://www.earlycents.com





Shawn Yancey wrote a pretty good explanation of EAC grading go here for the link:

https://www.earlycoppercoins.com/Wh...ep_45-1.html

Three factors determine the grade of an early large cent: sharpness (i.e. wear), surface and color. Except in the case of severely pitted or defective (edge dents, scratches, tooling) coins, the grade is determined primarily by how much wear the coin has seen. Surface and color are then considered in the selection of an overall grade.

Initially, the cent is graded strictly for sharpness...The surface and color are then evaluated relative to the sharpness.

When the sharpness of the cent is in hand, one turns to surface and color. In many cases, the surface and color are consistent with the sharpness, and the overall grade is the same as the grade determined by the sharpness alone. If the surface and color are not of the quality sufficient to support the sharpness grade, that grade is lowered one or more steps on the numerical grading scale. Occasionally, the surface and color will be so superb as to raise an otherwise borderline cent to the next higher level. In nearly all such cases, the sharpness was "almost there" to begin with.

The impact of surface and color increases with the sharpness of the cent.

You will often find that Stack's/Bowers and Heritage both will put in an alternate EAC grade opinion on early copper auction lots, this grade is usually done by very experienced EAC members from the staff of both companies they are just an opinion and often times much, much lower than say PCGS would call it, I've seen MS64RB Large Cents called EF40 by EAC standards.

I know Germanicvs is a member of the EAC and has a very good eye for excellent coins without many issues or problems, over time he consistently has shown his quality eye for getting great examples of various Sheldon varieties. This coin is no exception. In fact it's almost a dead ringer for:
https://www.earlycents.com/?product...nt-coin-1c-2 except germanicvs' coin has a much nicer reverse with none of the corrosion present on the coin I linked.

As always I seem to be humbled by germanicvs' excellent coins.

Thanks westcoin. Although I have not had time to get steeped in EAC grading, mostly because I don't want to get caught up in those standards and the accompanying prices of these types of coins (I shudder to think what this one costs), I am the proud owner of first editions of Sheldon's "Early American Cents" and "Penny Whimsy" which came out of the EAC Society Library after it was dismantled. The books have stamps from the now defunct EAC Library. I documented that purchase a few years ago in a thread here. http://goccf.com/t/289058

Hard to make a case for EF-40 except for grading inflation. I think the EAC grade of VF-30 is more appropriate for this example.