Old US Large Cents
Finding some of these old US Large Cents took us a long, long time. We worked hard and spent countless hours detecting in many different places but just could not find even one large cent for 4 years.Actually, we did find one but it doesn't count since it was so thin and corroded, you couldn't see any details.
All these large cents were found about 5 minutes walking distance from our house! How's that for a little research? Actually, the only research I did was because while we were at a beach one day an Englishman started talking to me about the bandits that use to live on the rivers, and that we should detect the river at low tide.
He promised that we would find more there than at the beach. So one day, I was off work, and went down to the river near our house and started detecting, and lo and behold, I found a 1755 British half penny and silver Spanish one Reale. I couldn't believe it!
The other Large Cents came from further searching of the area. They were all found in different locations along the river bank miles apart. They are all different years and different designs. None of these have any significant value other than the history behind them, the place they were found, and the satisfaction of holding one in your hand.
History
Cents and Half Cents were the first coins struck under the authority of the US Government. In 1793 the laws specified that the cent should weigh exactly twice as much as the half cent.
Large cents were coined every year from 1793 to 1857 with an exception of 1815, when a lack of copper prevented production. All large cents came from the Philadelphia Mint. Proof Large cents were first made in 1817. All proofs are rare as they were not made available to the general public before the mid 1850's.