Rare 1847 Headless Large Cent - Politial movement?

[joeyfresh]

Got out this morning but it was too cold and windy for my liking so I called it an early day. Found a bunch of casings and this rare headless large cent .....someone probably cut out the head to wear as a lapel to protest the civil war...copperhead movement?.....or not because I read in another post that the lapel pins would be from indian head pennys. What are your thoughts? http://www.cointalk.com/t21668/

 

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[relic lover]

Re: Rare 1847 Headless Large Cent

At least they left you the date. It is a lucky horse shoe!

 

[DigginThePast]

Re: Rare 1847 Headless Large Cent

That just makes no cents.



Neat find anyway.

 

[fistfulladirt]

Re: Rare 1847 Headless Large Cent

Now that is one crazy cool find!

 

[Woodland Detectors]

Re: Rare 1847 Headless Large Cent

What a great save! I have to lean towards the infamous "Copperheads" The Copperheads would have cut the heads from the LC's and fashioned them into stickpins, which they proudly wore to protest the CW movement. They favored the Union, but were againsted Lincolns beliefs. Clement Vallandigham, leader of the Copperheads, coined the slogan: "To maintain the Constitution as it is, and to restore the Union as it was."
Probably the largest Copperhead group was the Knights of the Golden Circle; formed in Ohio in the 1850s, it became politicized in 1861. It reorganized as the Order of American Knights in 1863, and again, early in 1864, as the Order of the Sons of Liberty, with Vallandigham as its commander...I think your coin is a great find that could very well have been a part of this movement. If so, I feel it could be as collectible as a fashioned stick pin...Maybe even more desirable. Congrats!

 

[Joe88]

Thats too bad....it would have been a nice coin!!!



Joe

 

[joeyfresh]

Re: Rare 1847 Headless Large Cent

What a great save! I have to lean towards the infamous "Copperheads" The Copperheads would have cut the heads from the LC's and fashioned them into stickpins, which they proudly wore to protest the CW movement. They favored the Union, but were againsted Lincolns beliefs. Clement Vallandigham, leader of the Copperheads, coined the slogan: "To maintain the Constitution as it is, and to restore the Union as it was."
Probably the largest Copperhead group was the Knights of the Golden Circle; formed in Ohio in the 1850s, it became politicized in 1861. It reorganized as the Order of American Knights in 1863, and again, early in 1864, as the Order of the Sons of Liberty, with Vallandigham as its commander...I think your coin is a great find that could very well have been a part of this movement. If so, I feel it could be as collectible as a fashioned stick pin...Maybe even more desirable. Congrats!

Thanks for the info Mike! The property owner told me that the land was one owned by a northern merchant which could be why this was found in Virginia??

 

[Gunrunner61]

Thanks for sharing, that is a neat find.......cool

 

[p2c]

While that is a definite possibility, it may have also been cut out that way to use as a cotter or some sort of washer. After the rise of small cents, a lot of farmers and others used LC's like washers and it could have been fashioned like that to serve some mechanical purpose...

 

[jewelerguy]

that is very cool

 

[Nutriasub]

Very interesting!! Cheers

 

[Nooberz]

Interesting find. Only if it could tell a story. At least they left the date on it for you.

 

[steelheadwill]

VERY interesting Find
Thanks for posting that old cartoon and info

 

[hikeinmts]

Too bad you didn't find the face of Liberty to go with the other half of the coin. Maybe you will, someday.
Interesting posts as to why it may have happened. If I pay enough attention to this site, I might get a better
grade in the next U.S. history test I take.

 

[looking4largecent]

Thats just cool.

 

[birdman]

I would rather find the coin like it is.It has a story to tell.

 

[CRUSADER]

While that is a definite possibility, it may have also been cut out that way to use as a cotter or some sort of washer. After the rise of small cents, a lot of farmers and others used LC's like washers and it could have been fashioned like that to serve some mechanical purpose...

I agree.

I have found cut out coin 'heads' & they are very neatly cut. If you were to use the head cut from that one it would look rough as hell. They were done with far better tools & skill, if they were to be displayed in anyway. (exactly as your picture implies)

 

[Mr Tuff]

nice story telling find!!!! MR TUFF

 

[joeyfresh]

While that is a definite possibility, it may have also been cut out that way to use as a cotter or some sort of washer. After the rise of small cents, a lot of farmers and others used LC's like washers and it could have been fashioned like that to serve some mechanical purpose...

I agree.

I have found cut out coin 'heads' & they are very neatly cut. If you were to use the head cut from that one it would look rough as hell. They were done with far better tools & skill, if they were to be displayed in anyway. (exactly as your picture implies)

Why couldn't you do a rough cut to get it away from the rest of the coin, then clean it up?? When I dug the coin, I too immediately thought it was used as cotter pin or farm fix but after looking at it...it looks like the bust was intentionally is cut out. Regardless, thanks to Mike from Woodland Detectors, at least I learned who the "Copperheads" were

 

[Don in SJ]

While that is a definite possibility, it may have also been cut out that way to use as a cotter or some sort of washer. After the rise of small cents, a lot of farmers and others used LC's like washers and it could have been fashioned like that to serve some mechanical purpose...

I agree.

I have found cut out coin 'heads' & they are very neatly cut. If you were to use the head cut from that one it would look rough as hell. They were done with far better tools & skill, if they were to be displayed in anyway. (exactly as your picture implies)

Why couldn't you do a rough cut to get it away from the rest of the coin, then clean it up?? When I dug the coin, I too immediately thought it was used as cotter pin or farm fix but after looking at it...it looks like the bust was intentionally is cut out. Regardless, thanks to Mike from Woodland Detectors, at least I learned who the "Copperheads" were

That is an interesting cutout for sure, I tried to see if where it was cut would have gone into the bust at all and hard to say but I think it did, which to me would eliminate the cutting out to make a copperhead pin, but perhaps the person just did an oops. I would think if he was going to make a cutout for the bust he would have simply clipped away till he got close to the bust then file down to the right outline. So maybe it was intended to be used as a cotter pin type of thing. Either way a cool find for a cut copper. I have one where the entire center was cut out, not even sure if it was a Large Cent or a colonial....

Don