Large Cent Type 1848

Nice-looking example!

sweet.

there are 43 different reported die varieties for that date. I cont tell which one this one is from the photos but you may be able to figure it out in hand. here is the reference for that https://nnp.wustl.edu/library/book/586931

N-30, 42, 43, 44, and 46 are all worth at least a 10x price multiplier with 46 being prohibitively scarce (2 copies known in the Noyes census).

lol. its overwhelming to me too. ive been collecting them for 30 years and teach classes on how to identify them.

its all about where the date is in relation to the things around it. towards the beginning of the book there is a reference for date position (page X in the book, page 14 on the portal). that will spit out 6 numbers that can be used to narrow it down significantly.

from the picture I think you are somewhere in the range of 5,7,4,4,4,6. there isn't on with those exact numbers but its pretty close to N-1.

first number is actually maybe closer to a 3 than a 5.

i dont think ive ever had one where all of my numbers were the same as what the author chose. ive attributed a bunch of them over the years.

numbers 3, 4 and 6 are all pretty hard to get without having seen a bunch and even then you are trying to translate what you see into what Grellman was seeing when he cataloged them. to add some more confusion to the mix the date tends to spread and move towards the edge as the dies age. over the life of a single die the numbers can move somewhat substantially.

the first number is - if you extended the left edge of the flag of the one vertically towards the center of the coin where would it intersect with the bust tip.

second number is if you drew a vertical line down from the tip of the hair where would it intersect the 8.

third - how far from the bust is the 1. (this one is basically impossible to get right without having seen multiples)

fourth - how far is the top of the 4 from the hair (same problem as 3. its relative to other coins)

fifith - this is if you took a vertical line down from the left edge of the bottom of the 1. where would it intersect the dentils?

six - how far is the bottom of the one from the dentils (same problem as 3 and 4)

even if you are a couple numbers off you can still reduce the number of coins you have to look at.

they get really hard to identify below xf. a lot of times you need to find a die chip or a repunched letter and those can be worn off pretty easily.