1835 Modified Matron Head Coronet Head Cent - Head of 1836 - Matron Head Large Cent (Head of 1836) N-8 Obverse Spiked Head

Description

The 1835 Matron Head Large Cent N-8 Obverse Spiked Head is attributed under the Newcomb classification system, the standard reference for die varieties among early American large cents. The die crack that defines this variety enters from the rim beneath the 1 of the date, travels through the inside edge of the 1, and continues upward through the bust behind the ear — a trajectory that, in its earlier stages, produces the spike-like appearance from which the Spiked Head name derives. The Head of 1836 is Christian Gobrecht's slimmer portrait, used on five of the 1835 obverse dies and on every cent of 1836. Large cents of this period were struck in pure copper at the Philadelphia Mint and catalogued by Howard Newcomb in United States Copper Cents 1816-1857 (1944). The N-8 die crack's path through the bust provides a confident attribution marker visible under modest magnification, and its progression from a fine spike to a developed crack documents the die's life across surviving specimens. Spiked heads occur when a small die crack develops on the obverse die near Liberty's head, creating a raised spike or thorn-like projection on the struck coin.

Cross References

• Newcomb N-8