1800 Draped Bust Cent - 1800/1798 Overdate

Coin Details

Auction Record

Description

This is the 1800/1798 overdate variety of the 1800 Draped Bust Cent. Dies were expensive, and a serviceable die left over at the end of a year was often kept and re-dated rather than destroyed: the new digits were punched directly over the old ones. The earlier date survives underneath wherever its strokes fall outside the digits punched over it, which is why an overdate is read from the shapes that do not belong to the date as printed. The effect is in the die, so every coin struck from it carries the same remnant in the same position. Produced at the Philadelphia Mint, the 1800 Draped Bust Cent - 1800/1798 Overdate is part of the Draped Bust Cents 1796-1807 series. The 1800 Draped Bust Cent issue as a whole had a mintage of 2,822,175; how many coins carry this variety is unknown. The obverse features Liberty facing right with draped bust and ribbon-bound hair, designed after a Gilbert Stuart portrait and the reverse displays a wreath enclosing ONE CENT and fraction 1/100. Multiple die varieties include the 1800/79 and 1800/98 overdates, reflecting the Mint's practice of reusing and altering dies. Struck in copper, weighing 10.89 grams, 28 mm in diameter, with a plain edge. Cataloged as PCGS #1452.