why are the braided hair half cents more fully struck than large cents?

MikeInFL · October 13, 2006 8:47AM

Why are fully struck half cents found so much more frequently than large cents? This is a question that has been bothering me for some time recently brought to light in this thread.

Two ideas...

1) The dies of the large cents were used to strike more coins per die than half cents. For instance, in 1854 4.2 million large cents were struck yet only 55 thousand half cents were. The large cents have 30 die parings, and the half cent has only one. Assuming each die pairing is a new set of dies then about 140 thousand large cents were minted per die versus 55 thousand for the half cents. This theory was put forth by mgoodm3.

2) Both the half and large cents of this time period shared a press -- and the presses used delivered the same pressure and thus the smaller coin had more pressure applied to it. This theory was put forth by yours truly -- but I have no facts to back it up. Help!

Please discuss...Mike

Leiana · October 13, 2006 8:51AM

1840-1849 were all proofs and proof restrikes, but the coin you linked is an 1854 so my original theory is out the window.

I agree that smaller planchets would be easier on the dies.

Also, they made a lot less braided hair half cents than braided hair large cents, that makes a lot of sense to me as to why the coins would be sharper.

-Amanda

STONE · October 13, 2006 9:52AM

My theory is that because these coins were smaller, they were easier to get fuller strikes.

I'm not sure about this, but it makes sense to me.

RichieURich · October 13, 2006 11:48AM

The larger the coin, the more pressure is necessary to make the coin. So if these were made on the same press, perhaps they were struck at the same pressure. Then the smaller half cents would be more fully struck than the large cents. Or, maybe the large cents were struck with more pressure, but not enough to fully compensate for their larger size and thickness.

Coxe · October 13, 2006 12:06PM

Half cents had half of the mass and same alloy. The surface area of a large cent is only about 50% more than the half cent's (48% to 59%, under normal tolerance). A planchet is a cylinder though, making the large cent about a third thicker than the half cent. But what matters at the coin press is the surface area with respect to the striking pressure, which is force/area. The same force will provide only around 2/3 of the striking pressure to the large cent as to the half cent.

michael · October 22, 2006 1:35AM

michael · October 22, 2006 6:21PM

why are the braided hair half cents more fully struck than large cents?

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