Description

The Braided Hair Cent was issued from 1839 until 1857 and represented the final series of large cents before the introduction of the small cent into circulation. First it appeared in 1839 as a modification to the old Matron head design. The most obvious difference between the two, besides the shape of the head, is the braiding of the hair from Liberty's ear to her forehead. By 1839, the technical skills of the mint employees had improved to the point where differences in individual dies were almost microscopic in detail, as opposed to the gross differences on earlier Large Cents (for example: stemless wreaths, mis-numbered stars, incorrect fractions, etc.).

No large cents were struck after 1857. They, and the half cents, simply became too expensive to produce any longer. Some 11 years after the large cent was discontinued, a mint employee coined several large cents dated 1868, almost certainly for sale as instant rarities to numismatists. Fewer than a dozen of these unofficial issues, struck in both bronze and copper-nickel, are known to survive.

Engraver: Christian Gobrecht