Opinions and a question about a possible 1799 large cent.

COINS MAKE CENTS

First of all I don't truly think this is a 1799 large cent. But like anything, the more i look at it the more my mind tries to convince me that this hideously ugly terrible nasty looking thing is.

So my question is, is there any diagnostics that may still be left on this ugly thing that would help me determine a date??

Now it's just a mystery to see if I can infact figure out what the date of the beautiful gem is

Thanks for any help.

renomedphys

Could be…

RLSnapper

I will tell you that based on the placing of liberty on the obverse and the final digit appearing to be a 9..so far so good. Three major markers on the reverse give a better picture of what you may have..."The point of the leaf under T is short extending only slightly above the foot of the T." "Second berry at left touches point of leaf. And from Sheldon "Denominator rather close and heavier than any of 1798 editions"
I took the time to compare these markers a dozen times with the MS61 example ..The Hines Cent..at Coinfacts. I am no expert in Draped Bust attribution but I would spend the money on this cent to get it in a holder. Even in this terrible shape my guess is it would bring close to 1K.
Snapper

BustHalfBrian

The second digit looks like the top of an 8 to me, but may the curvature I'm seeing was caused by the deep pitting. I'll defer to the early copper experts on this one. They should show up here soon enough. Despite the deep corrosion, it appears enough detail is present for it to be attributed by a trained eye.

Walkerguy21D

My guess, based on what I can see, is no, it's not a 1799.

The base of the Y in LIBERTY looks to be too far to the right from the forelock.
I haven't been able to refute the reverse attributes though.

I would be surprised if PCGS attempts to authenticate it. I expect they'd say there's not enough of the die markers present.

But, it may be worth submitting it, like buying a lottery ticket.

dsessom

I can see a "1" and "7" and the trailing "9". It's definitely seen better days, but if it were mine, I would send it to PCGS for conservation and slabbing. No way it will strait grade, but on this particular rarity, it doesn't matter.

TomB

That last digit sure looks like an 8 to me.

lkenefic

I dragged out the books and gave it a shot... the obverse looks too far gone for any meaningful diagnostics, but the reverse looks a bit better. Even if you can get it into a Genuine holder, it might be worth the gamble...

Eddi

The reverse does look at first glance rather like Reverse B used in S-188, the 1799 Overdate.
However, if you compare Reverse B to the OP coin, there is one difference I noticed: Breen says on S-188, the berry below C(E) has a long spine, nearly twice the diameter of the berry. On this example the spine seems shorter.
Also, on S-189 the left stem on the wreath is shorter than the stem on the right. On this example, they appear to be equal in length.
It does no seem to be S-188, BUT, only in-hand examination can tell for sure.

dhikewhitney

Send it in and share the results.

COINS MAKE CENTS

Going to send it in. What the heck see what happens.

Thanks for everyone's opinions and help

scubafuel

I'd get more opinions here before sending this to PCGS. They're likely to say the coin is too far gone for a positive attribution.