1842 Braided Hair Coronet Head Cent - Large Date, Brunk A-19, A.S.V.K.

Coin Details

Description

This 1842 Braided Hair Coronet Head Cent - Large Date bears a merchant counterstamp attributed to A.S.V.K., cataloged as Brunk A-19. Counterstamps were applied to circulating coins by merchants, silversmiths, and tradesmen as a form of portable advertising — the business card of early America. The A.S.V.K. stamp was punched into the coin after it left the Mint, repurposing it as a merchant advertising piece. The host coin is a 1842 cent from the Braided Hair Coronet Head Cents 1839-1857 series. The host coin's original mintage was 398,000, though counterstamped examples represent only a tiny fraction of survivors. Struck in copper, 23.5 mm in diameter. Cataloged as PCGS #958844. Counterstamped coins documented in Gregory G. Brunk's "American and Canadian Countermarked Coins" sit at the intersection of numismatics and Americana — each piece is a primary-source historical document of early American commerce. The counterstamp adds a unique layer of provenance that distinguishes this coin from all other examples of its type.