Owner Comments:
The large cent became one of a number of denominations, including the half dime, dime, quarter and half dollar that introduced the Draped Bust design in 1796. The design, which is credited to Robert Scott, proved popular and would appear on the cent until 1807. The dies for these coins were made by hand, and there are many varieties. Low grade examples are common, but most of them are now in collections and are seldom offered at small coin shows. High grade examples have always been scarce and much admired by collectors.
Many 1803 large cents were struck in 1804, and it is believed that this piece, which is a Sheldon variety number 260, is one of them. During the mint’s early years producing dies was a costly and time consuming process, and good dies would not have been discarded simply because of a change in the calendar year. The cents dated 1804 were not produced at the end of the year and came from just one set of dies. As a result 1804 large cents are very scarce. The Sheldon 260 is common variety, but the present example is well above average in sharpness and quality.