1803 & 1812 Large Cent Thoughts

Good photos McFinn! These are in low enough grade that it probably wouldn't help getting them graded (unless you want to) but excellent in 2x2's. It looks like the 1812 approximates to VG-10 at the highest, and the 1803 at F-15ish.

Ok, this deserves a strong edit

Your 1803 is the rare stemless variety on the reverse, and a F-15 retails around 525.00, and your 1812 looks to be a small date and a VG retails around 300.00... I checked PCGS coinfacts for this info. Based on this newer info, these are definitely better slabbed by one of the 3 major slabber TPG's in my opinion.
Jacrispies has a good point about the details part, where the 1803 has salty water damage corrosion perhaps from an overseas journey to get minted, but it does not appear to my eyes that the 1812 is detailed.

I am going to disagree with my fellow graders. I am almost certain that the 1812 cent will straight grade. The classic head cents almost always come with corroded planchets in this grade range because they traveled across the Atlantic from England. This one is really nice despite the discoloration at the center of the obverse. The obverse is vg8 and the reverse is vg10 in my opinion. That is easily a $200 coin, and if you find the right buyer you can get $250. You don't need to slab it because the person who is likely to buy this coin will know exactly what it is, will appreciate it and will pay a premium for it. The Classic head cents ran from 1808 to 1814 but many collectors seek the coins from 1812-1814 during the War of 1812. 1815 was the final year of the War of 1812 and was the only year since 1793 when the Mint began production that a cent was not produced. The 1812 cent is really nice and a collector will cherish it. By the way, it is the small date variety.

The 1803 cent is the Small date, Small fraction variety which is more common than the Large date varieties. It is VG8 and corroded and likely cleaned. It is a $160 coin without the corrosion but about half that with the corrosion which isn't really that bad. This one is not worth grading and might be a difficult sell.

Thanks for the great information. This forum has been a wealth of knowledge for this newbie. Is an album like Whitman or Dansco a safe way to display/store these old copper coins? I don't foresee selling any of these other than maybe a couple of dates that have more than one coin, so I guess grading by a service doesn't make much sense.

A Dansco or Whitman album with the clear, removable slides won't hurt these coins, and will provide ideal viewing access.

i think your 1812 grades straight VG8. the only thing I can add to this one is that its the small date which has a little premium over the large date

the 03 i'd put at VG8 also however the coin would detail.

i would not slab either one if they were mine

please post only one coin per thread. thanks