Hi everybody. I own an 1834 Large Cent... I'm pretty sure its the large-8, large-stars, medium letter variety??? (Key date??) How many 1834 8/star/letter varieties are there??? I own the 2008 RedBook and it says: 1834 Large 8, Stars And Reverse Letters. 1834 Large 8 and Stars, Medium Letters 1834 Large 8, Small Stars, Medium Letters 1834 Small 8, Large Stars, Medium Letters I only have the redbook2008 as a resource and its kind of disheartening as i've found errors recently... NGC population report wasnt much help... And I found this on ebay completed listings. It looks to me to be Small 8, Large Stars, Large letters - not even listed in redbook or NGC?? am I mistaken??? are there more than one types of 1834 key dates?? This is really bugging me, i'd appreciate any help, thanks!
I cant even tell about the 8 on this one.... also this has a double die face?? does this add significant value to the coin?
It is very hard to tell the difference at times. I use heritage a lot for comparisons and in this case the pictures are hard to see. Here is my stab at attributing all 3 coins: But the first coin looks like an N-5 - which is large 8, large stars and medium letters. The double profile coin looks like a N-2 1/2 which is small 8, large stars and medium letters. The coin from ebay is just a plain N-2 - again small 8, large stars and medium letters. I could be wrong about the varieties and I am not sure how much of a premium the double profile would add.
I agree with Mark - it's really hard to tell from the small pics, but the 1st coin looks like N-5 to me as well. I also agree with N-2 1/2 for your 2nd coin. The diagnostics that are visible all meet Newcomb's description. As for rarity, Newcomb lists N-2, N-2 1/2 and N-5 all as R-2. There are 12 varieties in all listed by Newcomb, including the doubled dies (N-1 1/2, 2 1/2, 3 1/2, 4 1/2, and 6 1/2). N-7, which is a Large 8,Medium Stars, Large Letters variety appears to be the key, at R-6. I'm not an expert on middle date LC's though - one of the pro's will probably be around shortly to give a final say.
Here is a quick attribution guide for 1834 that I published on another forum. Fortunately there are only 7 varieties and only two of them are rare. This year comes with: small date (8 the same size as the 3 and top of 8 lower than top of 1) N-1 N-2, large date (8 slightly larger than 3 and higher than the top of the 1.) N-3, 4, 5, 6, and 7. I would just ignore the size of the reverse letters they aren't important and all of the varieties can easily be attributed without bothering to consider the letter sizes. (Frankly you can ignore the size of the stars as well. If it is a small 8 they are small stars. If it is a large 8, if the 6th star is left of the point of the coronet they are small stars, if they are right of the point they are large stars.) Small dates N-1 two points of leaves below the last A in AMERICA N-2 one leaf point below center of A Large dates Small stars star 6 to the left of the point of the Coronet N-3, 4 N-3 berry below center of upright of first T in STATES. N-4 berry below left edge of left foot of T Large Stars star 6 to right of point of Coronet N-5, 6, and 7 N-5 small letters in legend, point of leaf below left serif of second S in STATES. R-5 Highly desirable. N-6 Large letters point of leaf right of center of last S of STATES. Now here is the problem N-7. This is a proof only variety with only about 8 specimens known. It has the large date and large stars. On the obverse the left edge of the curl is just to the right of the center of the 3. (on 5 and 6 it is over the left edge of the 4) On the reverse the point of the leaf is below the right edge of the second S in STATES. (One of these was cherrypicked about 10 years ago in VG condition.) If you have any questions let me know. The first coin in the thread is definitely a N-5 R-5 Congratulations the 34 N-5 is a tough R-5 and often comes low grade and/or damaged. The second is an N-2 The third is also an N-2 but with MDD on the profile. Newcomb gave them separate variety listings (the 1/2's) but they are not different varieties and they are not doubled dies The N-7 is definitely the key and it is still an R-7 not an R-6. Like I said only 8 known specimens. (And I have seen five of them, been able to handle three.)
Wow, this information is so helpful THANK YOU. Are there other sources for learning these newcomb varieties, besides the $100 large cent book, and coinfacts.com? (coinfacts seems to omit info for the 34 varieties) Here are better pictures of the 1834 I own. (i'm very excited about this one!) It does have an obverse scratch, the northeast star is slightly faded... and the letters RICA in America are faded/ing. Also, When I was attributing the "large letter/medium letter" besides the spacing between "states" I noticed that on the medium letter (my medium letter) theres a leaf that ends just below the first "S" in States... and the large letters, it ends below the first "T" in States... but after seeing you guys attribute medium letter - it seems to me you can get medium letter with that leaf ending under the first T in states too?? I was just going by the example in the 2008 redbook - they have the leaf ending under the first S in States for "medium letters".
I'm pretty new to Large Cents, and would appreciate opinions on grade if you have them! Again thank you all for the correspondence and help, I have fallen in love with Large Cents and this aids the inspiration!
I would call that last 1834 F details net VG because of the corrosion. Still all large cents are nice.
Thanks Mark. It's actually the same coin as the first one... just better pictures. Still a N-5 in your opinion?
1834 Cent N-1 through N-3 varieties This had to be sent in two posts because of the size. N-1 (Common) N-2 (Common) N-3 (Common)
1834 Cent N-4 through N-7 varieties Part two N-4 (Common) N-5 (Very Scarce) N-6 (Scarce) N-7 (Extremely Rare - Proof Only)
Thank you all so much. everyone has been extremely helpful! The N-5 is listed in redbook/ngc ETC... but they dont mention the N6? The N6 is just "scarce" - what is the value relative to common?
1834 Large 8, Stars And Reverse Letters. N-6, N-7 but N-7 is proof only 1834 Large 8 and Stars, Medium Letters N-5 1834 Large 8, Small Stars, Medium Letters N-3, N-4 1834 Small 8, Large Stars, Medium Letters N-1, N-2 That's how the varieties would relate to the Redbook descriptions As you can see from the prices in the book the N-6 does not really command a premium until you get ino the higher grades. Typically scarce (R-4 76 - 200 estimated) coins do not bring a premium in lower grades. You have to be at least an R-5 (Rare 31 to 75 known) for that.
Yes, but keep in mind that rarity levels are always in flux because new unknown pieces are still being found from time to time so over time they do keep going down. But as I said earlier this is a tough R-5. It has been an R-5 for a long time. It used to be considered a "high R-5" or 5+ meaning that the number of specimens was was at the low third end (31 to 45) By now it is probably a solid to almost a low R-5 (45 to 60).
