Is this well worn large US cent from 1816-39 or 1839-57

BaltimoreYankee

Hi All,
I'm a sports card collector and don't know much about coins. I have this old large US cent with the date completely worn off.
From 2 minutes of cyber-sleuthing, it seems to be either from 1806-39 or 1839-57. Can anyone tell me which date period this is from and perhaps narrow it down further?

Mr_Spud

Looks more like my 1838 than my 1844

Greenstang

1806-1839
Note the longer bust as opposed to the 1844

epc

1835-1839. This has the "young head" introduced in 1835. And I think you meant to ask about 1816-1839. The older cents had completely different designs.

CRHer700

Definitely 1835-early 1839. The hair above the forehead sticks out on some 1839s and all large cents after that. Observe @MrSpud ’s 1844 and you’ll see what I mean.

lkenefic

Looks like either an 1837 or 1838 based on Ms. Liberty's profile...

epc

I believe we can rule out 1838 and 1839. There's not much left of the hair cords, but what is visible looks to me like the plain cords used prior to 1838. One variety of 1839, the N-1, 9/6 overdate, used an obverse that started life as an 1836 die. But the shape of the coronet is distinctive and unlike the OP's photo.

Mr_Spud

I don’t have a 1837, but I just tried doing an overlay and a side by side and it is a close match to my 1838
Here’s the overlay where I made the 1838 transparent on top of the worn down one

And here’s the side by side

BaltimoreYankee

Thank you all for the responses. This has been very helpful and educational. I probably bought the coin around 15 years ago just because it was 'old'. Should have gone for one that shows a date. BTW - The cent is a really dark copper - more like brown. It's weird that it looks silver in my scans.

epc

The authoritative work on these "middle date" large cents is John Wright's "The Cent Book 1816-1839". It was published in 1992, and John maintains errata you can get from him. (See the Early American Coppers website, eacs.org) The book contains detailed descriptions and good photos of all known die marriages,

CaptHenway

@epc said:
1835-1839. This has the "young head" introduced in 1835. And I think you meant to ask about 1816-1839. The older cents had completely different designs.

You are absolutely correct. The large cents of 1816-1857 should really be broken down into THREE groups, 1816-1835, 1835-1839 with many sub-types, and 1839-1857 with two sub-types. However, this was never done because nobody ever thought that they could sell a book that only covered the 1835-1839 sub-types, so they remain tacked onto the end of the 1816-1835 type.

renomedphys

@CaptHenway said:

@epc said:
1835-1839. This has the "young head" introduced in 1835. And I think you meant to ask about 1816-1839. The older cents had completely different designs.

You are absolutely correct. The large cents of 1816-1857 should really be broken down into THREE groups, 1816-1835, 1835-1839 with many sub-types, and 1839-1857 with two sub-types. However, this was never done because nobody ever thought that they could sell a book that only covered the 1835-1839 sub-types, so they remain tacked onto the end of the 1816-1835 type.

What he said. That's why my copper type set currently has 4 coins for "Matron Head", with room for at least one more. I think @Mr_Spud's 1838 above would do just the trick

MsMorrisine

many scanners do a horrible job with coins. one issue is lighting and another is many don't get the focal point right.

chocolate brown is a great, natural color for it.

like cards, don't adulterate it.