1794 Liberty Cap Cent

Okay, first of all, I know this coin is about as poor as it gets. It may be good for a lowball set for somebody, but for right now, it's just a learning piece for me. =)

I received the other day what was sold to me as a Sheldon-57 1794 Liberty Cap Large Cent. Upon receipt, I of course popped open my Sheldon book and to me it didn't look anything like an S-57. The date is totally obliterated - this is almost definitely a dug coin. It has some funny rainbow toning as well, as if it were heated over a lighter perhaps, and there is transparent tape residue on the bust and just below.



By the way, I haven't posted a picture of the reverse to save on bandwidth, but the reverse of this coin is totally obliterated. Not flat, but worse, flat and grainy and horrible AND then scratched heavily in the center! NOTHING can be made from it. And that's fine by me, knew that when I bought it.

You know you're a coin geek when...

Something about it looked all wrong. I thought it might be the denticles, which required quite a bit of maneuvering with my lights to even show... But I counted 7 from the center-line of the "L" to the center-line of the I. They're very faint, but I'm confident.

Turns out, on 1794's there are only five denticles in similar spacing. This here is a 1796 I do believe, and from what I can make out, Obverse 3, making it S-84, 85, 86, or 87. I'd grade it FR- obv, P- rev.

Does anybody think differently?

I also received this very day a real genuine 1794 LBLC (date completely readable, despite what the photograph shows), and the differences between this and the 1796, now that I have them both in-hand, are dramatic and obvious to say the least. This 1794 has great surfaces but again a completely obliterated reverse (just flat, not damaged this time), but the planchet is slightly smaller in radius but easily twice as thick. The "ONE HUNDRED FOR A DOLLAR" can just be made out around the edge. Pretty neat!



I weighed them both on my handy dandy scale and even though the 1794 weighs in well at 12.84g (compared to a mint weight of 13.49g), the 1796 is only 8.74g, comparable to a few well worn Fugios that I have but considerably lighter than the published mint weight of 10.89g. I mean, it's obviously a porous coin, but that's a lot of weight gone. I guess I'm not concerned.

As for the "real" 1794, my eyes are tired but I can't figure out its Sheldon number. I'd grade this one AG+ obv / P rev. The obverse is a lot nicer than my photo shows. Gotta work on that. I looked at Obverses 12, 17, 27, 29, 32, and 35 and am easily as sold on any of them. Anybody have any ideas?

Anyway, I'm quite proud of my growing stature as a coin geek today. :D yippeee... =)

Just thought I'd share.

And again, here they are side-by-side, for comparison's sake. =)