I think I joined the 1700 club today !! Drapped Bust Large Cent! 1797 I think lol

[stewielouie]

I went to a old house built in 1890 that a good friend of mine just recently bought to turn into a rental property. Its in a community that was known for its Soapstone quarries around the turn of the century. Big house.... big yard, nasty red clay soil... iron infested chatter all day. I balanced most of it out. I dug a bucket full of trash. I found a nice employee badge from one of the local quarries that I gave to my friend since hsis father had worked in the quarries many many years ago. As soon as I i get a picture of it back from him I will post it. I did dig very few coins. I am sure that someone has been there over the years and MDed. I got a nice high tone and pulled a nice large cent out. I knew it was a older one I just didnt have any idea how old it truly was. I knew since it had the fraction on the back it had to be one of the first minted. All evening I have perused the coins to see if I could identify it from looking at the reverse's since the front is pretty rough around the date, when I took a picture of it to post I am pretty sure I can read the date on it. From the reverse its a 1797, which has a double leaf on the right, 16 leaves on left, 19 leaves on right. If Im wrong, let me know.

I added a few photos of the tag from the soapstone company.

 

[treblehunter]

Not sure of date, but I'm sure that is a winner winner chicken dinner, nice save! Congrats!

 

[dirtlooter]

sweet find, congrats

 

[RelicMedic]

Sweet! Congratulations!

 

[Vino]

Looks like 1796 to me..I have the same.
With the same reverse. .
Great save..and a great coin..That was my first large cent I ever found..
George..
Ps. By the way that will clean up better..
Throw in in some olive or mineral oil over nite the hit it with a toothbrush tomorrow you should see more.

 

[UnderMiner]

Wow wow we-wa!
Amazing how the reverse was preserved more than the front, must have been dropped heads up so that part deteriorated quicker.

 

[stewielouie]

Looks like 1796 to me..I have the same.
With the same reverse. .
Great save..and a great coin..That was my first large cent I ever found..
George..
Ps. By the way that will clean up better..
Throw in in some olive or mineral oil over nite the hit it with a toothbrush tomorrow you should see more.

Thanks Vino, I looked thru lots of reverses and counted lots of leaves to try to narrow this down. I will try that.

 

[TypeCoin971793]

It is a 1798 with the second hair style and reverse of 1797. Can't get much more specific than that.

 

[Don in SJ]

I see no 1796 nor any 1797 varieties where LIBERTY is so far above the head, but there are quite a few of 1798s. Especially the 1799 Head types. Not enough Obverse detail showing to give a positive variety ID. Give Sheldon 176 a comparison look if you can.....

Don

 

[dirtdigginfool]

Wow..whatever the date is..it is STILL a 200 plus year old coin!!..in awesome shape!..Great find!..ddf

 

[stewielouie]

I see no 1796 nor any 1797 varieties where LIBERTY is so far above the head, but there are quite a few of 1798s. Especially the 1799 Head types. Not enough Obverse detail showing to give a positive variety ID. Give Sheldon 176 a comparison look if you can.....

Don

Don, I tryed to look at the Sheldon 176, and cant get it to open. I looked all evening at different reverse's. To be quite honest, after a while alot of them look the same to me. Is there something I can look at that has all the reverse's togather. Or do I just have to open them all seperately?

 

[Garrett424]

Awesome find.
It's not in bad shape given it's age and how long it's been living in the dirt.
Congrats.

 

[BuckleBoy]

is it a 1799?? That would be a VERY nice coin!!! $$$

 

[Carolina Tom]

Very nice find, whatever it turns out to be. Congrats.

 

[cjon455]

I see 17 something! Looks legit to me, congrats!

Don't ya hate how the back is so legible, that always happens to me lol

 

[Don in SJ]

is it a 1799?? That would be a VERY nice coin!!! $$$

Unfortunately the Reverse is not correct for a 1799 variety. I checked for that first thing. The fraction is almost identical to one, but other attributes like no stems on some leaves and the outer pair of leaves below the N(T) overlap the stem, this one does not.

 

[SilverDreams]

Congrats on the amazing find, regardless of date!

 

[Don in SJ]

Don, I tryed to look at the Sheldon 176, and cant get it to open. I looked all evening at different reverse's. To be quite honest, after a while alot of them look the same to me. Is there something I can look at that has all the reverse's togather. Or do I just have to open them all seperately?

The Draped Bust series of Large Cents is and can be very hard to attribute variety when considering most of the ground found ones have corrosion or dirt hiding key attributes. Yes, there are only subtle differences on many of them and it is just hard to get it right when nothing stands out, like a die crack or weird fraction, etc. I am nowhere near convinced on what variety it might be, suggesting that S-176 appears close but going by your photos, hard to say for sure. There is no magic book with comparisons side by side, must look at each variety. That is why I usually start with on the Obverse, the appearance of the date ( yours is hidden) and the location and position of the letters in LIBERTY, not much else is usually different other than die cracks. On the Reverse I usually start with what the fraction looks like, position of the numerator and demoninator and is the fraction bar long/straight/angled, etc. The I usually look at the leaf closest to D in UNITED, and where exactly is it pointing to that letter. From there on it gets into slanted letters, spacing of letters, leaves being with stems or not, same with berries, etc. It just is not easy. I use Walter Breen's Encyclopedia of Early US Cents and it is not the best book out there but the only one I could find and afford.

Don

 

[I-DIG-IT]

Nice digs.

 

[oxbowbarefoot]

Congrats on joining the club! Great coin, too! Next up might be a Spanish Silver