Toned 1820 Randall Hoard Cent - Discuss!

nsmorabito

I picked up this very eye appealing 1820 Large Date from a good friend after many years of waiting. It will find a permanent home somewhere between my expanding collection of widgets and type set coins.

Feel free to discuss / give opinions - the grade is 65RB which I find interesting given the predominantly brown obverse. Has anyone seen 1820s with similar color?

Seems odd that any would pop out of the hoard looking like this given most were original and slabbed anywhere from red through brown. I suspect album toning, but nothing accelerated. Tried to take some closeups to illustrate the color in hand (it's tough) but the true view does a pretty good job.

pursuitofliberty

I don't understand the nuances of early copper enough to comment on the toning or the PCGS designation (although I see it as a RB as well), but I can certainly say that is a both a GORGEOUS and FANTASTIC Large Cent!

CaptHenway

A gorgeous coin! I have no problem with the RB designation.

Walkerguy21D

Nice example!

I think it’s probably from very long term storage in an old paper envelope, as many coins were stored that way.

I’m not sure what you meant by this statement:
** Seems odd that any would pop out of the hoard looking like this given most were original and slabbed anywhere from red through brown.**

Realize that the hoard was dispersed to collectors, dealers, and the general public, well before 1900. And they would have then been stored in many types of environments and conditions, for many decades prior to the advent of slabbing.

calgolddiver

LOVE the toning !!

Typekat

Really some great colors on that lovely piece of 200+ year old copper!
IMHO, the Red/ Red Brown/ Brown color designations on original BU coppers like this one are
almost beside the point in describing them.

messydesk

First of all, nice coin! The color on a matte proof Lincoln would be called BN, but I imagine that it was called RB to separate it from the vast number of 1820 cents graded BN that are simply solid brown (i.e., market graded RB). I have no problem with the designation.

Meltdown

That is beautiful, I love the shattered die on those!
One of these days I hope to add an example this nice to my own box of 10.

Aotearoa

I'm usually not crazy about toned copper but I'm making an exception for this coin! A beauty!

coinkat

Attractive coin-

Coinbert

A beautiful well preserved large cent from the Randall hoard. I have no issues with the grade and color designation.

thebeav

Well, that one was worth waiting for !
I really like the die crack.....splendid.......

BillJones

Some of these coins can change color in the holder. I bought this one in 2015. It looked a lot like this for about six years. I thought that it was stable, but it has gotten more brown over time. I've got other copper coins in my safe deposit box, which have not changed. So I don't know why this piece got darker.

291fifth

The coin has exceptional eye appeal. Why worry about a RB or B designation.

nsmorabito

@Walkerguy21D said:
Nice example!

I think it’s probably from very long term storage in an old paper envelope, as many coins were stored that way.

I’m not sure what you meant by this statement:
** Seems odd that any would pop out of the hoard looking like this given most were original and slabbed anywhere from red through brown.**

Realize that the hoard was dispersed to collectors, dealers, and the general public, well before 1900. And they would have then been stored in many types of environments and conditions, for many decades prior to the advent of slabbing.

Yes, totally agree - what I meant was:

I wouldn't expect this coin to come out of the hoard with this color, and I can't pinpoint exactly how it could have picked up the progression since it was dispersed in the 1860s.

Here in the thread a commenter mentioned it was likely due to long-term storage in a paper envelope, which makes sense, although I'm not super familiar with how EAC tones (whereas we all have seen myriads of envelope toned dollars).

Thanks all for the replies, I'm in love with the coin. The reason I asked about RB vs BN was more for CAC approval, as I could see the color designation being the only pain point for acceptance.

MEJ7070

Man that thing is just A+ all the way around. Congrats on a great pickup!

CommemDude

Beautiful coin. I owned an early copper half cent with small discrete areas of pink-magenta and I could not cross it to PCGS who considered it to be recolored. I also owned a gorgeous multicolored brown Randall hoard cent that look right to me but JA insisted had been recolored. It takes an early copper expert to sort these coins out.

psuman08

Beautiful example!

WinLoseWin

Had never thought about looking at the images under CoinFacts until now. With it being a hoard coin in Unc, guessed there might be some nice ones with various looks.

There are a couple of nice toned ones approaching but not quite equalling the OP coin, which is also there.

The colorful coins show up in both the Brown and RB sections. Didn't check non-hoard varieties.

This might be my second favorite toned one on there, a 64 Brown:

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Brown Large Date Images:

https://pcgs.com/coinfacts/coin/1820-1c-large-date-bn/images/1615

Red and Brown Large Date Images:

https://pcgs.com/coinfacts/coin/1820-1c-large-date-rb/images/1616

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Used to own one around 2001 in PCI-66 RB that I considered a 65 brown with maybe a low Red and Brown reverse. The 1820 is usually the best looking of the 1816 to 1820 Randall hoard years.

oldabeintx

Beautiful coin! Looks BN to me but it deserves a RB designation if that’s what it takes to distinguish it from the more prosaic BN coins.

Elcontador

I believe the variety is N-15. I discovered in the late 1990s, that you needed 20% RD to get a RB designation (mine was a BN with 15% RD). I guess the reverse is what made the difference. I really like it.