First large cent - 1"

[BlackX]

First large cent - 1"

I'll update with a pic later (though it might not help much) but I found a large cent--my first!--of some sort a few nights ago but it's in such bad shape I'm having a hard time identifying it. I'm finding no detail on the reverse and on the obverse can only tell that the head's facing to the right. (Odd thing is that the head seems a bit more to the left than I'm seeing on the right-facing cents.) It measured almost exactly one inch (have to remeasure later in metric) but that would convert to 25.4mm which is smaller than I'm finding as measurements for the early large cents. The lowest I'm finding is 27mm, which seems to be a bit too much difference to account for wear. So now I'm wondering if this is not an American large cent but perhaps a colonial or foreign coin. Thoughts?

 

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[goldencoin]

Re: First large cent - 1"

It is probably old, but here are my thoughts if it isn't an american large cent

Canadian large cent or bank token (colonial-early 1900's)
English large cent (?-early 1900's)
colonial coin, very likely becasue of wear (1700's)
Hard times token (1830's) coins made during coin shortage privetly

Just a few thoughts

HH
-GC

 

[BlackX]

Re: First large cent - 1"

I weighed this one and it reads 7.5 gms. So now I have another clue to go on.

After I posted that I did some more research and saw that the diameter did match the Canadian large cents and I just checked it against a 1906 Edward VII I found a few weeks ago (see my icon) and it matches in diameter, the same sa the Victorias. I was afraid that's just what it was, even given the wear but, presuming I'm interpreting what I see correctly, the bust faces the opposite direction and I just found a nice informative site on Canadian pennies
http://www.calgarycoin.com/modern/cdcent.htm
and it gives their weight as 4.54 gms or 5.67 gms so I'm pretty sure it's not Canadian.

I also found a site with info on English pennies and half-pennies
http:www.tclayton.demon.co.uk/coins.html
That lists the diameter of the Bronze Halfpenny at 25mm (a bit smaller) and a weight of 5.7g, so it's probably not that either. BTW, that site also has nice pics of coins. For instance, the halfpenny coins are at
http://www.tclayton.demon.co.uk/pics/halfp.html

Now to see if I can find a site with good info on weights/diameters of colonial and perhaps some other coins. Hadn't thought of tokens. Thx.

_Rich_

 

[BlackX]

Re: First large cent - 1"

After soaking in oil, I'm beginning to see a shape on the reverse. It does not look like a wreath.

So I'm left with: right-facing bust on obverse, non-wreath on reverse, ~7.5gm (~116 grains), and ~25.5mm.

 

[BlackX]

Re: First large cent - 1"

Here's pics finally. It's only with the lighting at certain angles can you see the shapes so this isn't as clear as it could be.

Obverse:

Can't tell here but the bust seems to be right-facing. (A couple of people--with no prompting--came to the same conclusion.) The dark spot that looks to be a shadow on the right side of the face is actually some coloring that slightly covers that edge of the bust.

Reverse:

Also can't tell here but there doesn't seem to be a wreath shape but there does seem to be some sort of large solid shape in it in the center, possible a 4-sided polygon with straight edges.

 

[romeo-1]

Re: First large cent - 1"

I've found plenty of coins in that condition...very frustrating!

 

[BlackX]

Re: First large cent - 1"

I've added a drawing for this in the correct forum at http://forum.treasurenet.com/index.php/topic,80368.0.html