Second LC for the year

[cti4sw]

Scotk9 and I were in a new area today. Found a surface dump with a lot of bottle and dishware shards, I did bring some home to research the manufacturers, and there were a lot of milk bottle fragments and Scotk9 found a neat ornate skeleton key:



Nearby in an overgrown field it seemed very trashy, until Scotk9 stopped to dig what seemed to be a solid target. Less than 10 feet from him, my Pro sounded a dime signal, 80-81. About 5 inches down these popped out:



At first I thought the little white spot in my palm was a .22 bullet but it's too small, about half again as small as a .22. Anyways, the copper measured ~27mm, which is consistent with a large cent, so into the peroxide it went:



This is the best post-peroxide pic I can manage. Some reverse wreath detail is still evident, and you can make out most of "ONE CENT" in the middle. There isn't any real obverse detail visible (yet).

 

[G.A.P.metal]

Congrats on the LC...that key is interesting HH.
Gary

 

[CASPER-2]

 

[cti4sw]

Anyone on here know anything about old keys?

 

[vpnavy]

Old keys are so darn cool cti4sw. To this day it still amazes me all the different configurations, etc. you find with old keys.

 

[cjon455]

Anyone on here know anything about old keys?

all I know about old keys is they open old doors lol

 

[cti4sw]

I have a theory about this LC. Someone please let me know if my logic is sound.

Given its current condition, as worn as it is, my inclination is that it's one of the early-date Coronets that had seen much circulation before its last owner lost it. If it was lost relatively new, you'd see a good bit of detail under environmental damage, like my first LC of the year. Environmental damage does not evenly wear out a coin like this one, at least not that I'm aware of. Does that make sense, or is it a logical conclusion?

EDIT: I've also concluded it's not the latest Braided Hair LC (1840-1857) as that series had a very wide border, as opposed to the Coronets, which despite a similar die had a far narrower border. It cannot be a flowing hair or draped bust, as both varieties all had the 1/100 beneath the wreath, which mine lacks. There is a slight possibility of it being a Classic Head (1808-1814), as this series had an underlined CENT, and mine does show what appears to be a line under CENT but may be conditioning damage. Wish I could get a good pic of existing detail. So the date range I'm concluding for my coin is roughly 1808-1825ish (allowing for much circulation).