How rare are Large Cents

Georgems65 · August 4, 2008 2:51PM

Like I have said in another post, i came across a large bunch of large cents to buy. When I viewed the collection there were over 800 large cents. How rare could these be. Here is one collection with 800+ alone. Me personally think that large cents are some what of a rare series. Just wondering everyones thoughts.

copperfan · August 4, 2008 2:56PM

I love large cents. While I dont think the series is rare as a whole, I do believe the series has many rare coins.

There are plenty of examples left for us collectors, but they are very popular.

I recently found a group of about 100 pieces, early 1795-1816 or so, grading from ag-ef. Most of the ones Ive seen were very decent looking with lots of character. I havent finished the deal, but when they get here I will have plenty of pics.

COALPORTER · August 4, 2008 2:58PM

In low messed up grades their not rare at all.
i don't collect them per se, so i don't know what the tough dates may be worthwhile even in low grade.
i don't think too many copper coins were remelted etc.
do you have any photos of a typical coin ?

thisnamztaken · August 4, 2008 3:18PM

Depends on whether you're talking Flowing Hair, Liberty Cap, Draped Bust, Classic Heads or later, and what grades, dates, planchet quality, varieties, etc.

pb2y · August 4, 2008 3:23PM

A year set from 1814 to 1857 would be easy to find in G4 some F12 or better;
and without problem coins (a little more or less than $1,000 bucks).

rec78 · August 4, 2008 5:17PM

Large cents as a whole - are not rare at all. But it depends on what you want. While large cents were not melted in large quantities as were silver coins, they are of a softer metal alloy and tended to wear faster and corroded easily. The dates from 1808-1814 and the toughest to find in nice vf or better grades because the copper alloy used for these dates was fairly soft and these coins wore rather fast. If you are looking for nice XF dates from 1808-1814-you best buy them when you see them because you won't see many. The earlier dates from 1793-1807 are not easily found in nice grades either. The dates from 1816-1820 are easy to find as these were the Randall hoard dates. 1821-1829 are a little tougher than the latter dates after 1829....JME. Bob

northcoin · August 4, 2008 5:27PM

The earliest coins are of most interest to me. The first year with the chain design seem to be in high demand regardless of condition. Another highly sought Large Cent in any condition is the starred reverse. Both are keepers in my own collection. The Red Book is a pretty good source for information on the Large Cents and then there is Penny Wise as another publication worth checking out.

ziggy29 · August 4, 2008 11:34PM

Most dates from 1816 on are pretty common in general, though particularly nice ones can be harder to find and can still draw quite a premium.

Wil2008 · August 4, 2008 11:41PM

hello

i began collecting half and large cents a few months ago, and while you can find them
fairly easily.... it is a bigger chore finding nice, attractive , and problem free ones.

right now building a 1810 to 1820 collection of half and large cents. many dealers
tellin me its getting tougher to find coppers in the teens .. i tend to agree.

good luck..

Wil

AnkurJ · August 5, 2008 12:17AM

The most difficult thing with large cents is condition. The planchets used were very low quality, and some were corroded before the coin was struck. You will find a TON of problem coins, and its very tough to find premium quality clean planchet coins. I am doing a full type set 1793 to 1857. I am doing fairly well so far, but I had originally said to myself that I would NOT buy problem coins. But I found very quickly that it would be a very difficult goal, and a VERY expensive one as well.

Ankur

BoggledMind · August 5, 2008 1:54AM

Thanks for entering me in this giveaway.

Arizonadesertrat · August 5, 2008 1:58AM

Low-end large cents, particularly dated 1816-1857 are not rare, or even scarce. Many dealers have boxes of these coins in AG-VF grades, mostly scudzy (beat-up/tooled/corroded/etc.).

Look for decent-looking large cents; buying hundreds of junky coins isn't a good idea---they would be hard to sell.

FYI, half cents are much scarcer than large cents. If you are thinking about collecting early coppers, keep this in mind.

19Lyds · August 5, 2008 2:16AM

From a collectors standpoint, I think the series in itself is not rare however, the possibilty of one showing up in a cash drawer somewhere could certainly be considered a very rare occurance!

MikeInFL · August 5, 2008 7:39AM

<< <i>Like I have said in another post, i came across a large bunch of large cents to buy. When I viewed the collection there were over 800 large cents. How rare could these be. Here is one collection with 800+ alone. Me personally think that large cents are some what of a rare series. Just wondering everyones thoughts. >>

They are not rare in the slightest. Finding eye-appealing, problem-free, original ones is not easy, however.

1798CentCollector · August 5, 2008 1:51PM

A hoard of 800 large cents is certainly rare.... or at least rarely reported. Surviving choice or above average large cents are certainly rare or rarely available - many called choice are not that choice. Certain varieties are rare, at least the number of known examples are rare. Surviving large cents are only rare in relation to their total mintage.

There have been some interesting studies and assumptions made ( by various EACers) regarding large cent survival.... usually hotly debated. The survival estimates in the studies I am familiar with estimate survivorship from anywhere north of less than a million to 5 million. This out of a total mintage from 157 plus million coins minted in the years from 1793 to 1857. A large cent survivorship study was presented at the EAC 2005 convention. Using rarity scale assigned to the Large cent varieties, applying interpolated values for rarity pluses and minus' and comparing the tabulated totals to the recorded mintages for al the known Sheldon and Newcomb varieties, the author estimated the surviving number of cents at 1.391 million or .89% or the total mintage. The early dates had the lowest surviving number ( 263K), but the highest surviving percentage (1.17%), the middle dates the lowest surviving percentage (.53%) and the mid range surviving number (336K); and the late dates the highest surviving number (791K) and the mid-range surviving percentage (1.15%). Interestingly the early dates represented a higher surviving percentage presumably due to the interest in those varieties in the 19th century and their ensuring preservation. The years 1793 and 1794 reflected the highest survivorship rankings of any of the dates from 1793-1857. There's holes in this study (like any with assumptions) as the number of large cents extant is not known nor attributed. None-the-less one person's interesting approach to estimating large vent survivorship.

rhedden · August 6, 2008 3:33AM

Mintage of all large cents from all years combined: 157-158 million

Mintage of 2003-P Lincoln pennies: 3.3 billion. And that was just at one mint, in a "light" year for penny production.

au58 · August 6, 2008 5:20AM

<< <i>A hoard of 800 large cents is certainly rare.... or at least rarely reported. Surviving choice or above average large cents are certainly rare or rarely available - many called choice are not that choice. Certain varieties are rare, at least the number of known examples are rare. Surviving large cents are only rare in relation to their total mintage.

There have been some interesting studies and assumptions made ( by various EACers) regarding large cent survival.... usually hotly debated. The survival estimates in the studies I am familiar with estimate survivorship from anywhere north of less than a million to 5 million. This out of a total mintage from 157 plus million coins minted in the years from 1793 to 1857. A large cent survivorship study was presented at the EAC 2005 convention. Using rarity scale assigned to the Large cent varieties, applying interpolated values for rarity pluses and minus' and comparing the tabulated totals to the recorded mintages for al the known Sheldon and Newcomb varieties, the author estimated the surviving number of cents at 1.391 million or .89% or the total mintage. The early dates had the lowest surviving number ( 263K), but the highest surviving percentage (1.17%), the middle dates the lowest surviving percentage (.53%) and the mid range surviving number (336K); and the late dates the highest surviving number (791K) and the mid-range surviving percentage (1.15%). Interestingly the early dates represented a higher surviving percentage presumably due to the interest in those varieties in the 19th century and their ensuring preservation. The years 1793 and 1794 reflected the highest survivorship rankings of any of the dates from 1793-1857. There's holes in this study (like any with assumptions) as the number of large cents extant is not known nor attributed. None-the-less one person's interesting approach to estimating large vent survivorship. >>

Where did they all go?

1798CentCollector · August 6, 2008 9:20AM

sparky64 · August 6, 2008 9:32AM

George - Can you fill us in on what series they are?
How about the average condition or standouts?
800 is quite a hoard.
Did you or are you going to buy them?

1798CentCollector · August 6, 2008 9:37AM

Turned in to be melted and supply the production of the new small cents, lost and misplaced, and various and sundry other individual uses. The extant population is without a doubt higher than the rarity based estimates, however, it's certainly a small percentage of the original issue.

rays · August 6, 2008 9:40AM

My survey, biased by my own experiences:

The late dates are not rare except in mint state.

Many varieties of the early dates are legitimately rare. I have personally seen about:

100 +/- chain cents, with only 20 or so better than VF, including several mint state pieces

about 300 wreaths, all grades, including gem mint state

20 or so 1793 liberty caps. Of these, 4 were VF, one XF.

Countless classic heads (08-14), the vast majority of which don't have choice surfaces.

How rare are Large Cents

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