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

stewielouie · Sep 23, 2014

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.

MackDog · Sep 24, 2014

Great duggs just enjoy the fact you found a 1700 coin

stewielouie · Sep 24, 2014

Don in SJ said:
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

Thanks Don for the explanation. I looked thru all I could find till I thought my eyes would bleed lol. I knew if I posted it on here, someone with far greater knowledge than me could come up with a match. Its the oldest coin I have ever dug, beat out a previous 1852 large cent. I am just stoked its late 1700's.... 1797, 1798.... I will take it lol. Ty

Scrappy · Sep 24, 2014

Great coin and great find! I'm sure with the knowledge on this forum that you'll get your answer on the date. Clean her up a bit and I bet that'll help give you a positive id.

Congrats!!!

-Happy Hunting!