West Virginia argus. [volume] (Kingwood, W. Va.) 1877-1946, 1915-07-01
Old-Time Copper Cents Valuable

surely YOU must remember the time
when you carefully guarded one ol
those old-fashioned copper cents OF
United States currency i'm yaru,
hope that IT might turn out to be
worth a wonderful lot OF money.
III you can't YOU must be a yer,
unusual person. for nearly every one
has at some time carried one around
In pocket or purse. and I'm the old
days, thirty or forty years ago. when
they were i'm common circulation.
many man laid away goodly store
OF them, trusting they might some
time bring HIM a small fortune.
Right here in New England there
are today probably lOO. 900 coin col
lectors Most OF them. Il is true. are
mainly of current foreign coinage
| German pfennig. Canadian and Eng
| hsh pennies, and perhaps a French
| copper or two-but then there are the
older men who are Interested only I'm
the rariues OF the numismatic world.
Yet. be he man or boy. or be she
woman the coin collector who has not
one of those great big copper cents
will be hard to find.
And so IL is that n recently printed
monograph on Large U. $. Sents" is
sure to he accepted with general pub
lie interest. Its author. Theodore ]
Nenn OF Chicago. n widely known col
lector and member of the American
Numismatic association. has been
keeping tab on the principal auction
sales OF coins i'm this country for more
than thirty years, and is able TO state
from actual experience the approx
mate value OF the many varieties OF
big cents which were coined by the
United States government between
1893 and 1857.
1t is OF interest to note that 1915
was the only year since the cent was
first struck in which no coins of that
denomination were turned out by the
Government. This was due TO the fact
that in that year the Philadelphia
mint was destroyed by fire.
As the total coinage OF cents I'm the
first three years was only ,O66. .O33. IL
1t not difficult to figure out why they
are pretty scarce and generally valu-
able
The 1898 Liberty Cap cent. which
is perhaps the rarest OF all the big
ones. today ranges In value from $3.50
for fair specimen to $50 for n very
fine one; and If there is an absolutely
uncirculated and unblemished speci-
men In existence. which is doubted by
Mr. Venn, IL would easily bring more
This particular specimen has been
counterfeited and as the workmanship
of the duplicate is exceptionally fine,
II is 10-to-1 shot that the coin OF
that kind which you have been treas
uring is a fake-unless. OF course, you
are an experienced collector or pur-
chased 1t from a reliable dealer.
The 1899 cent is the "aristocrat" OF
them all, being worth between Sc and
$3.50. For though the coinage of that
year was 904,5s5, relatively large
number, these cents have become ex-
uemely rare
Tbis is probably due to the fact
that. like all the early cents. these
contained n full cents worth of cop
per. and artisans OF the day not lnfre-
quently put their cents into the melt
ing pot
IL is suggested that possibly the
cents Of that year were most numer-
GUS at that time I'm sections where the
greatest demand for metal existed
Needless to say, cent of this date has
been produced by "doctoring" the fig
ures on similar specimens OF other
years.
Fighting hard with the 1893 Liberty
Cap and 1899 cent for first place Is the
1899 cent imprinted over 1886. II has
been impossible to set a reasonable
value on it, for It is seldom offered
for sale, and indeed, is seldom asked
for
~ ." 5p1tidlIst CtHJ anu To-
gether with the 1893 Liberty Cap will
probably never bring anything near
the price accorded the 1899 aristocrat.
or these three varieties It is figured
that the 1893 is really the most scarce.
The 1904 cent ranks close TO the top.
bringing between $3.50 and $175 I'm
its various qualities Then comes the
1909 cent, worth from so cents TO $40;
and vieing with It in rarity is the 1896
Foliet Head, worth from So cents to
s55