1822 U.S. Large Cent, N-12 Variety, EF. Dark, but with a smooth planchet. R-4 Rarity.


1835 U.S. Large Cent, N-8 Variety (Head of 1836), EF. Dark, but with smooth planchet. R-2 Rarity.

Those are very attractive circulated large cents, I usually don't care too much for the 1822 large cents for some reason, I have one, but it is only in F or so, but it is the first large cent I acquired, when I was about 10 or so.

The older large cents tend to be on the dark side if they haven't been cleaned and recolored. These are great examples.

Is this true for the most part? That's a great caveat in my opinion - a simple and easy way to save yourself from a bad purchase... important since i want to get a few examples of early copper.

They are lovely I do like the large cents (only have a few but working on them LOL) thanks for sharing

The copper that the early cents were made from was often of questionable quality. Scrap copper was purchased and smelted to turn out the roll copper. Because of impurities many of the cents darkened very quickly. This is indicated in almost all of the books I've read on these series. Also collectors have cleaned many of the early cents and attempted to retone them. This process is not easy and often resulted in poor appearances including the overly dark coins. I don't have the exact references handy but I'll look them up sometime during the week and post them here.

Thanks, Art. Little tidbits of info like that is easy to remember and can save lots of money over a lifetime. I can't wait to put it to use.


too bad I have little $ and fewer stores to go to... I'll be smack dab in the middle of Iowa this summer and there aren't many coin shops around there. sad...

Just like to add my own thanks to Art for that info

Just a note that the earlier cents, on up to 1814 were struck on blanks that were imported from England and were of good quality. The War of 1812 put an end to British imports, and by 1814 the blanks had all been used up. 1815 was the only year that Large Cents were not minted, due to the lack of copper. With the newly available locally made blanks coinage resumed beginning in 1816 with the Coronet type cents.

The only issue with the 1808-1814 cents was that they were made on pure copper, which was softer because tin and zinc were not included in the mix. For that reason it is very challenging to find nice example of 1808-1814 cents.

I would not necessarily assume that simply because an LC is "dark" that it has not been recolored. A chemcial used by jewelers and to oxidize bronze statuary will turn copper a very dark black-brown color. In general LCs will run from steel brown to light tan with the most comon colors being steel brown, dark choc brown and olive brown. Choice pieces will show even coloration. Pieces that are splotchy or have diff colors on the field and high points should be avoided as they are generally recolored or have environmental problems. Specific issues will come in specific colors. For example, non-problem 93 Wreaths and 94s will typically run dark tan to olive brown while 96s typiocally are steel brown. Circ Classic Heads are typically steel to dark choc brown, Middle Dates typically are dark choc to med brown while Late Dates run a bit lighter.

Starting in 1797 and thru the late 1840s all cent and HC planchets came from England. First import was from Grovenors and Co, but quality was poor and the Mint switched to Boulton. Boulton supplied thru the 1840s when the Mint switched to Crocker Bros of Tauton, Mass largely on the promise of using US copper. They were caught purchasing Peruvian pig copper on the NY commodity market and a big stink ensued. By that time the copper mines in Mich began to produce sufficient copper so Crocker switched. The planchets were always "pure copper" with varying trace impurities.

As far as the Classic head cents, the planchets came from Boulton just as they had since late 1797. Some years ago a few early dates and classic head cents were tested and it was found that the classic heads were was slightly softer thus starting the myth. However, the test was limited to a very low graded junk pieces and thus shows nothing. The real reason for the overall crappy condition of most Classic Head cents is that many were melted during the War of 1812 when copper prices spiked. A record in the Annals of Congress shows that people were getting kegs of cents from the Mint and promptly selling them for their copper content to metals dealers and manufacturers. You can find an article on the mass melting of LCs and other stuff on my website - http://user.pa.net/~hvymtl.

Edited to add: While no cents are dated 1815, cent were struck that year. With the cessation of hostilities Boulton and the Mint resumed business and the first shipment arrived Dec 10, 1815 aboard the vessel Coromadel. Cent coinage started shortly therafter as the Mint report for 1815 states that cent coinage had resumed, but no quantities were given. These cents were likely the Cornet design and dated 1816 as the Mint Director had instructed the engraver to prepare new dies earlier that year.

Thanks for all that info, RH! I'll definitely take some of that to heart when on the LC/HC search.

Great looking pieces! The 1822 is just a fantastic piece to me.

very nice!!! was only 10 years old when i got my 1864 large pennes which found t if front of my house on the road....but its been holed