I was searching on Ebay France recently, and I found this large cent. It's in pretty good condition, except for the rim. I was wondering, however, how the reverse was scratched. If you look closely, there are scratches running through the words one cent, but the words are not scratched. Here are the pictures.





If anyone could help me out, I'd appreciate it.

-Scott

bad planchette?

Take a sharp needle or similar, someone awfully bored, and tada. One could just make scratches all over the coin or selected areas. That might explain the abnormal scratches in the middle I believe.

I agree with GX. A kid with a needle most likely did the damage.

It's a shame too. The coin still has great details.

i agree....someone with a little sharp thing

I really can't tell from the pictures and I'll have to dig out my books again and take a look at varieties but several things come into play with Large Cents.

1) Planchetts weren't necessary prepared as we expect for modern coinage and so maching marks pre-strike are common.

2) Dies were often ground harshly to "refinish" them for additional use. Many of the varieties are defined by lines that appear in different parts of the fields. The lines are not always raised - depends on the cause.

I'll check it out later tonight.

Maybe it once had some kind of deposits/dirt/etc that someone (not in the know) tried to remove??

Did a little research. First off - I'm not much good at diagnostics from photos. I cannot really 100% make out the forehead area on the coin.

My guess --- 1839 Head of 1838 Newcomb 2 Early/Mid Die State

Early strikes show die scratches on neck, vertical scratches thru STAT, and horizontal scratchers thru RICA. The die scratches would appear as small scratches that for the most part are difficult to see. They would actually be raised lines not incuse lines.

A very nice cent. I'd be very happy to have one like it in my collection.

The net of the above == scratches most likely post-strike BUT I would only give that diagnosis an 85% rating. Just too many for them to have been pre-strike in that particular year.

Thanks for all the help with this one. I assumed it was post-strike, but the fact that the words were not scratched through me off.

-Scott