This is another fun American coin, lost to history just enough that most people (not collectors anyway) have never seen it or ever heard about it: Coronet large cent, minted from 1836 to 1857.
Large because the diameter was much larger than later pennies, clocking in at 29 mm for the first three years or 27 mm for all the others compared to the 19 mm of the Flying Eagle cent, Indian Head cent, and Lincoln cent.
The coin is 100% copper. It's not exactly a rare coin and can be found in many coin shops or online, but it is a bit expensive even for low quality versions and hella expensive for finer quality copies.
You can see my copy is a little worse for wear, but you can still make out a lot of detail. I think it says 1835, but that date is really faded and hard to read.
The image of Liberty on the obverse changed slightly over the years, but all of them are similar, originally designed by Robert Scot and later altered by Christian Gobrecht. She is surrounded by 13 stars for the original 13 colonies.
The reverse included the basic wreath with "one cent" in the middle, but since there is more room on this cent, "United States of America" is around the wreath.
Comparisons
You see it is a fair size larger than the Lincoln cent.
Bigger than the nickel too.
Just about the exact same size as the Japan Dragon 1 sen, which is also 100% copper I think (I'd have to look that up... I don't remember offhand).
Anyway, there we go. I'd love to have a better copy of this, but I'm not really willing to pay the $50+ that would be required to get a better copy. Maybe if and when BTC and HIVE make all of us rich, eh?
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| David is an American teacher and translator lost in Japan, trying to capture the beauty of this country one photo at a time and searching for the perfect haiku. He blogs here and at laspina.org. Write him on Mastodon. |