Year: 1816
Type: Liberty (Matron) Head Large Cent
Variety: N-5
Grade: RAW
Mintage: 2,820,982

1816 marks the first year of the Matron Head large cent. In the latter part of 1815,
a shipment of copper from England arrived. The die that had been designed to strike
these coins was dated the next year, 1816. With the last year of the classic-head
large cents being 1814, and the next striking of large cents bore the date 1816, no
large cents bearing the date of 1815 were ever struck, this being the only year in
the history of the denomination, from 1793 until today, for which this could be said.

Today, the 1816 large cent is relatively easy to find in mint state from the Randall
Hoard, but a great deal more difficult in circulated condition. The pictured variety
(N-5, an R3-) above is one of the varieties that was present in the Randall Hoard,
found in 1867, but is not all that common in nice circulated condition.

This example is a later die state, as evidenced by the weakening of the dentilation,
and has a nice mottled brown color. Some verdegris is present on both sides, and
there's a hit on the bridge of Liberty's nose, but the overall look of this coin is
quite eye-appealing.

This coin was purchased from Doug Bird.