Submitted 1856 large cent--Not graded yet but what's N-18 variety?

[Golden Oldie]

I recently submitted my 5 coins with coupon and my 1856 Cornet large cent has a variety N-18 on it when I checked online today.. I think the coin is a slant 5. Is that what N-18 means?

 

 

[rbrown4]

That is correct 1856 N-18 Slant 5. Rarity - very common. Please share a photo when you get it back.

 

Rey

[Conder101]

N-18 refers to a coin from a specific pair of dies. There are 22 different varieties of large cent in 1856. N-18 is a slant 5 coin but I do not believe it is the only slant 5 variety for that date in which case N-18 could not be said to mean a slant 5.

[RI AL]

I believe that Newcomb refers to the "slant 5" in the date as "Italic style 5". Conder101 is correct as usual in that there are many different varieties of the 1856 with the "Italic 5". Newcomb numbers 1,2,3,4,5,13,14,15,16,17,18 and 19 all have the "Italic 5" as opposed to the "upright 5".

 

I don't believe that Newcomb has a rarity scale for large cents after 1839.

[Golden Oldie]

Thanks for all your good info. These are varieties and not mint errors? Are there many die varieties in a lot of our early coins? I assume the dies were hand tooled and would then probably vary a lot.

Are there collectors who will try to collect all of these "N" varieties in large cents?

[Conder101]

Yet they are varieties, not errors. Technically there are a LOT more die varieties in todays coin than in our early ones. but for the most part no one bothers to try and identify all the different dies used today because they are so similar. In the early years there were fewer dies used which makes it possible to potentially create a collection of all of the different die varieties. Before the late 1850's there was a lot of individual hand work in the creation of the dies and they did vary significantly. After that point the dies were completely ubbed and the only differences between them was placement of the date and whatever hand touch ups that may have been done on the die.

 

Yes there are collectors who try to build sets of die varieties. Early American Coppers members (EACers) tend to collect large cents an half cents by die variety. Some will focus on a specific series, some on specific dates. (I do the early dates, before 1815, and 1817, 1820, and 1829.) Collecting the late dates, 1840 - 1857, is becoming more popular and the cost of the early and middle dates (1816 - 1839) have been rising. One thing that does tend to hold it back is the difficulty of doing the attributions. On the other han there are very few really "impossible" varieties in the late dates other than some of the proof only varieties.

[Golden Oldie]

NGC didn't grade my 1856 large cent due to environmental damage. May try to take my own photo and post .