Braided hair large cent Question.

[dooly]

I have just come across an old coin album i forgot i had and found these two 1854 Large cents wit a few more and a couple of Walking libertys

 

the question is the dates seem to be in totaly diffrent positions and seem to be made out of totaly diffrent metal. i have looked through my cherrypickers guide and there are no veriations listed for this year. can any one help ?

 

as i would like to send them off to NCS if its worth the $'s

 

 

Thanks dooly

[BillJones]

To answer your metal question, both coins are made of copper. The first one is corroded which accounts for the different color. One of the complaints about the large copper cents was that they became “foul” while in circulation. Later it was found that adding a little tin and zinc to the mixture created bronze, which was less chemically reactive. There corrosion was not as much of a problem.

 

As to your second question, I’m not a Newcomb guy so I can’t tell you the variety. I can tell you that the dates were punched into the dies as four figures. Because of that, the dates could be in slightly different positions. There was also an 1851 variety when the date was punched in upside-down. That die preparation error created the famous 51 over 81 variety that is listed in the Red Book.