I found among my late grandfather's things an 1848 Braided Hair Liberty Head large cent which has only the front side struck. The back is smooth except for very slight normal wear and some staining/tarnishing. I am a complete amateur, so I welcome any opinions. Might this be an extra valuable coin, or perhaps worthless? What should I do with it? Thank you for any advice!
Neat coin! I personally think that this is an unfinished love token. In the early to late 1800s people would grind off one side of a coin and engrave someone's initials or a name etc. It looks like this coin was ground down and never engraved. See the attached picture of a finished love token.
I am in complete agreement with @Coins4Eli.... It was a very common practice to use the coinage of the day to create art and a symbol of love for person of your affection. That old large cent was meant to be somebody's canvas.
I found one like that in my dealers junk box once. Large cent with a smoothed reverse. I carried it to a gunsmith and had him engrave me a love token in period correct script that I gave to my wife many years ago.
It's a damaged coin, and that reduces its value, but it's certainly not worthless. (What would you say, everybody -- a couple of dollars if you find the right buyer?) Welcome to CoinTalk!
The reverse has been smoothed after it left the mint. I agree with @Coins4Eli on this. It was normal back then to smooth one side of the coin, usually the reverse, and engrave it with what we now call a “Love Token”. They are popular and a number of people collect them. In reality, it’s unfinished and it’s a damaged coin that’s worth very little. Welcome to CT.
That definitely didn't occur during the minting of the coin. It's altered post mint as explained by others. Welcome to Cointalk
I agree that it was prepped for a love token, but never engraved. Which gives you the opportunity to take it to a jeweler and have it engraved with something, if you chose. (Or have one of our resident hobo nickel artists carve something artistic on it.) It's not worth a whole lot, but it's definitely not worthless. Pretty neat. I had a nickel 3-cent piece with a blank reverse like that, once. Had it engraved with a friend's initials and gave it to him. Presto- a modern love token!
Thank you all for your rapid and generous responses! I am impressed. I have to admit that I am here for a selfish reason and have little or nothing practical to contribute to discussions, since I know nothing. I just got a bag of 100-200 loose coins that my grandfather had collected when he was a young boy around the turn of the century. I am now 70 years old and trying to minimize the number of things my children will need to deal with when I go. I found this place on Google and put one coin up on auction here to see the procedure. And I put a few up on eBay. My initial impression was that eBay would have more auction activity, but now that I see how many of you wonderful people responded to my question, I'm thinking I'll put more up here. Thank you once again!
