US Large Cent 1808 to 1814

The most important aspect affecting the value of old US large cents is eye appeal and cleaning. While Eric has indicated his coin is not cleaned (which is good!), it carries 'repulsive' eye appeal and heavy scratching (which are bad!). Remember that collectors are looking for nice examples of coins to add to their collections, so good looks is a must.

The old Classic Head large cent in our picture is at the bottom of the eye appeal ladder for collectible large cents. A coin must look at least this good to carry numismatic (coin collector) value. There are oodles of coins that look worse, and they are worth almost nothing. Coins that look better, of course, are worth big amounts. The specimen in our secondary picture is worth at least 10 times more than the one in the primary picture. It has less wear and looks so much nicer.

There are all sorts of twists and turns when it comes to old US copper coins, so all we can give is general guidance about value. If you have a nice looking example, seek out a knowledgeable collector or dealer, or go to the library and get a coin catalog. There are plenty of web sites that give catalog values for all the twists and turns. One of our favorites is CoinAuctionsHelp.com. Approximately, for coins between 1808 to 1814:

worn: $20 US dollars approximate catalog value
average circulated (like our picture): $80
well preserved: $1000

You can see the strong dependency between value and condition. Hope you have a nice one!
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