1823 Matron Head Coronet Head Cent - 3/2

Coin Details

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Description

This is the 1823/2 overdate variety of the 1823 Matron Head Coronet Head 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. Any mintage given below counts the entire issue for this date and mint, not this variety: a variety comes from one die or a few, and how many coins they struck was never separately recorded. The 1823 Matron Head Coronet Head Cent - 3/2 was struck at the Philadelphia Mint as a cent in the Matron Head Coronet Head Cents 1816-1835 series. No mintage was recorded for cents dated 1823; PCGS lists 1,262,000, the figure for 1824, and NGC thinks the 1823 cents were struck in 1824. The obverse features Liberty facing left wearing a coronet inscribed LIBERTY, with stars around the border, and the reverse displays a wreath enclosing ONE CENT. The 1823/2 overdate is the N-1 die pair; the normal date is N-2. Struck in copper, weighing 10.89 grams, 28 mm in diameter, with a plain edge. Cataloged as PCGS #1630.