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Recent purchase, a 1794, Head of ’94 large cent

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In addition to the 1825 quarter eagle my second big Baltimore show purchase was this 1794 large cent. This piece came from the Dan Holmes collection, and it has been on the market for a while. I had been eyeing it for several months and finally decided to buy it after a brief negotiation with the owner.

 

This is an S-21, which is the first variety after the 1794, Head of ’93 varieties. It is rated as an R-3, which makes it a little scarcer than average. The coin fits in my collection as part of my expanded type set. Many of the cents and all of the half cents of 1794 are a different sub type from the cents and half cents of 1795. If these coins were not so rare and expensive in high grade, they would be an official part of the U.S. type series. Most collectors can barely find ONE 1794 or ’95 cent or half cent let alone two.

 

The 1794, Head of '94 large cents are truly beautiful coins. It's hard to believe that the lowly cent could be so attractive. The larter "Head of '95 and 1796 large cents were not as nice and were stuck in lower relief.

 

PCGS graded this coin MS-62 brown, and that is a very accurate market grade. The ultra conservative EAC guys grade AU-50+ :o Don't get the idea that those guys would sell this coin for AU money. They won't. They will charge you Mint State money and call it AU. For the S-21 variety it rated as the fifth or sixth finest known. For the record I'd grade this coin AU-58.

 

I have yet to take the perfect picture of this piece, but here is my current effort.

 

1794S-21CentO.jpg

1794S-21CentR.jpg

 

And here is my 1795 large cent. See if you can spot the differences in the designs. The differences are greater than those between a Type I and Type II Buffalo nickel.

 

1795centO-1.jpg

1795centR2.jpg

 

 

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Cool pickup there Bill. First 3 things I see is the bust is lower from Liberty, less neckline at the bottom where meets the hair, and the "4" not touching the bust as is on the 75'.

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Awesome! Love these old designs. Cant wait to start getting bust halves in those new PCGS prongers...

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Mainly what stands out to me is the hair design. The lower curl is more pronounced on the 94. Also, there are more strands of hair, I think it was 8 vice 4 protruding from the hair on the 94.

 

Great coin Bill, thanks for letting us live our coin lives vicariously through you!

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PCGS graded this coin MS-62 brown, and that is a very accurate market grade. The ultra conservative EAC guys grade AU-50+ :o

I concur, based on the images.

 

But, Bill, we are not "ultra conservative" (tsk) . Rather, everyone else is "absurdly liberal" in their grading :) .

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PCGS graded this coin MS-62 brown, and that is a very accurate market grade. The ultra conservative EAC guys grade AU-50+ :o

I concur, based on the images.

 

But, Bill, we are not "ultra conservative" (tsk) . Rather, everyone else is "absurdly liberal" in their grading :) .

 

I agree with the EAC guys about the coin being AU, but I agree with pricing it at the MS62 level. Congratulations on the beautiful purchase!

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I feel the head of '94 was the most attractive of all the large and small cent portraits. An S-47 I once owned in VF-EF retained its depth of design and character, while a similar grade 1795 was not up to supporting that much wear. (It's a little like comparing 1921 and 1922 Peace dollars.)

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Lovely coin, Bill. Just wonderful. Nice pick-up!

 

I bought this one from Rick Snow last year. It's just an F12, S-65, I think. Die pair typically weak on one side and strong on the other.

 

PCGS mislabeled it a "head of '95" but it's in an OGH and I don't want the error fixed.

 

It's not nearly as lovely as yours but I have a long way to go to catch you and no intention of trying.

Lance.

 

626fa92e.jpgc019289f.jpg

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Fantastic coins! Do the PCGS prongs come standard now, or is that a special order thing?

 

I will say this, NGC - clear plastic prongs look nicer than white ones (hint, hint).

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Lovely coin, Bill. Just wonderful. Nice pick-up!

 

I bought this one from Rick Snow last year. It's just an F12, S-65, I think. Die pair typically weak on one side and strong on the other.

 

PCGS mislabeled it a "head of '95" but it's in an OGH and I don't want the error fixed.

 

It's not nearly as lovely as yours but I have a long way to go to catch you and no intention of trying.

Lance.

 

626fa92e.jpgc019289f.jpg

 

You are correct, Lance. That is an S-65. It is called the Shielded Hair variety because the left side of the obverse was out of alignment which protected the hair detail with the rim on that side. The variety is cool because you get more hair detain than normal on a worn coin. The weakness you see on the reverse is due to the break up of the die at the top and on the last "A" in "AMERICA." The lettering was weak in those areas from the beginning.

 

S-65 is supposed to be the most common 1794 variety. Using EAC standards one MS-60 example exists of this variety. In Sheldon's time no Mint State pieces were known.

 

PCGS mislabeled it a "head of '95" but it's in an OGH and I don't want the error fixed.

 

 

It's hard to believe that a professional grading service would get that wrong, but it's not the first time I've seen that happen.

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Some time ago I was looking through a Heritage auction and saw this S31 1794 Head of 1794 Large Cent. I couldn't pass it up and was lucky enough to become the owner.

 

1794PCGSAU50Headof1794LargeCentS31-.jpg

1794PCGSAU50Headof1794LargeCentS-1.jpg

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