i'?3e ■'xaiMniWiOOMMMMWWSJBWOBSfW .;: t-f- I I W iawiWK'- C' S^ ' '"t.' '^^';y^ .':•• i!i- '■Jlt^'% lam Cents; of 1796 «t 1 1 . i> i:; I? T -- iS lu D E R . ■r-wwtiw m i mi w wi »?.■■ Class _C3ji_34. Book . GsS GopyiightN" COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT. /-;• THE VARIETIES OF THE UNITED STATES CENTS OF 1796. AN ARRANGEMENT BY E. GILBERT AND THOMAS L. ELDER OF New York. COPYRIGHTED 1909. iPUBLISHED BY; THOMAS L. ELDER, Numismatist and Auction Cataloguer Thirty-two East Twenty-third Street, New York City, U. S. A. Q. PLATE 1 A-B C-D G-J H I-K 9-10 11 12 13 14 15 16 1796 CENTS GILBERT - ELDER ARRANGEMENT PLATE 11 B-D-J C-H-K 3.4 7-8-9 10-16 11-12 13 15 1796 CENTS GILBERT - ELDER ARRANGEMENT DESCRIPTIONS. CAP VARIETY. A. Obv. L of "Liberty" touches cap; stand of T. close to and entirely over the fore-lock. "Liberty" distant from milling; date well spaced, 1 touching lower lock of hair, and 6 near bust. Pole close to bust with end distant from milling. Rev. Left wreath stem has nineteen leaves and five ber- ries, and the right branch has eighteen leaves and four berries, wide space between "One" and "Cent"; stem and ribbon-ends long. Last cipher of fraction too high. "A" "M" and "E" of "ximerica" are connected at their feet. B. Obv. same as "A." Rev. The left branch of the wreath has twenty-one leaves and five berries, and the right twenty leaves and five berries. "AMER" of "America" connect at their feet, "N" and "E" of "One" touch at the top, also "ENT" of * ' Cent. ' ' There are five groups of three leaves each on the left branch of the wreath, and four groups of three on the right; the lowest leaf on the right branch points to the left foot of the final "A" of "America." C. Obv. "L" of "Liberty" nearly touches the cap, and "R" and "T" of the same word are very close to the hair; stand of " T " partly over the hair and forehead ; figure " 1 " of date near lower curl and "6" distant from bust, 1, 7 and 9 being well spaced with 6 near the 9. Eev. Left brancli of the ■wreatli has nineteen leaves and the right has eighteen leaves with four berries on each; "AMER" of "America" connect at their feet; "A" and the second "T" of "States" nearly touch at the bot- tom ; the lowest leaf on the right branch points to the right foot of the final "A" of "America", stem ends are long and slightly curved. Obv. known as the ' * open mouth va- riety. ' ' D. Obverse same as variety "C." Reverse same as variety "B." E. "L" of "Liberty" nearly touches the cap. The stand of T is near, and entirely over, the fore-lock; the 1 of date is distant from the 7 and very close to the end of the lower curl of hair; the "9" is nearly as far from the 7 as the 7 is from the 1, while the 6 is quite close to the 9 and a little too high. There is a break at the end of the pole connect- ing it with the point of the bust. Eev. same as variety " B. " F. Obverse Liberty, date and end of pole distant from mill- ing, with the "L" very near the cap and "R" and "T" near the fore-lock. Date widely spaced and with clear field between date and bust. Rev. Left branch of the wreath has nineteen leaves, and the right has sixteenleaves , with five berries on each branch. "Cent" low in wreath. "AME" of "America" connect at their feet; lowest leaf on right branch termi- nates directly under "C" of "America"; stem ends heavy. Legend distant from milling. G. Obverse a very close copy of variety "C." By a compar- ison of the two pieces slight differences can be detected in the relative positions of 1-7 and 6 of date and the hair and bust. The pole is not as thick as on variety "C" and is farther from the bust. Eev. The left branch of the wreath has twenty-one leaves, and the right twenty leaves, with four berries upon each; legend distant from milling, first "S" of "States" is low; the first "T" is joined to the "A" at the bottom; "AME" of ''America" are connected at their feet. The stem ends are thin and club-shaped. The lowest leaf on the right branch points to the right foot of the final "A" of "America"; figures of fraction distant from the divid- ing line, the left branch of the wreath has five groups of three leaves each, and the right three groups of three leav- es. H. Obverse "L" of "Liberty" touches the cap, while "T" is more distant from the hair than any other variety known to me. The pole is distant from bust and extends nearly to the milling. Figures of date small, uniformly spaced and entirely detached from milling, hair and bust. Rev. Legend close to wrth, many letters nearly touched by leaves, notably "UNITD" of "United", and "M" and final "A" of "America." Left branch of wrth. has 19 leav- es and the right 18 leaves with four berries on each branch. Figures of the fraction small; the first "S" of "States" is too large; "A" and "M" of "America" are connected at the base. I. Obverse " L " of " Liberty ' ' nearly touches the cap and " R " and "T" are closer to hair than on any other variety that is known to me. The date also is very close to the lower lock of hair and bust, and gives the coin the appearance of a large head crowding the lettering and date. Rev. Left branch has 18 leaves and 5 berries, the right branch has 17 leaves and 3 berries. The letters "U" and "N" of "United" are very close together but do not touch; the stem end at the right points to the right foot of the final "A" in "America"; figures of fraction small, with the enumerator too far to the right. J. Obverse same as variety Gr. Eeverse same as variety B. K. Obverse same as I. Eev, same as H. L. Obverse same as G. Eeverse, left brancli lias 19 leaves and 5 berries ; right branch, 18 leaves, 4 berries, the 15th leaf on left branch, under first "T" of "STATES" very imperfect, in fact, a mere line; "D" out of position, leaning to right; first "S" of "STATES" low, bow coarse and imperfect, stems point to right of "A" and to left of *'U". FILLET YAEIETY. No. 1. Obverse In "Liberty" '*E" and "E" joined- at the bottom, date is straight, uniformly spaced, except the 6, which is very close to the 9 and tilted to the right. Eev. Left branch of wrth. has 18 leaves and 3 berries, the upper one very small, and connected with the branch without a stem. Eight branch has 17 leaves and 5 berries. **One" is high in wreath, the word "Cent" is low; First " S " of " States ' ' is distant from " T ", while ' ' TAT ' ' are very close together. In "America" "AME" are connect- ed at their feet. Stem ends short, the right one pointing directly to the right foot of the final "A" of "America," and the left one to the curve of "U" of "United"; divid- ing line of fraction is long. No. 2. Obverse " L " of " Liberty ' ' slightly out of position to the left, "E" and "E" very close to the head; figures of date widely spaced, except the 6 which is a trifle nearer the 9 than is the 7, a die break makes the date appear thus, 17-96. Eev. Left branch of the wrth. has 20 leaves and 5 ber- ries, the right 18 leaves and 4 berries; the stem-ends are long and club-shaped, the one to the right nearly touches the right foot of the final "A" of "America," and the one on the left nearly touches the curve of the "U" of "Unit- ed"; both branches terminate at top with a single leaf each, and as they point directly toward each other it gives the wreath an appearance of a perfect circle, and by this char- acteristic may very easily be identified. On many of this va- riety may be found a die-break from milling to "R" of ''America"; thence along the top of "ICA" and curving upwards ends at the milling. No. 3. Obv. "Liberty" very near the milling, the date is nearly straight and evenly spaced except that the 6 (which is a trifle farther from the head than on No. 2) is very close to the 9. Eev. Left branch of the wreath has 19 leaves, the right 18 leaves, and each has four berries. The letters "TAT" of "States" and "AME" of "America" are con- nected at their feet, the lowest leaf on the right branch ter- minates under the left foot of the final "A" in "America." No. 4. Obv. This obverse is very similar to No. 2 and can be dis- tinguished from it by the position of figure 1 of the date in reference to the lowest lock of hair on the head of "Liber- ty". On this coin the figure 1 is a trifle farther from the hair than on No. 2. Rev. same as No. 3. On all the above mentioned numbers the wreath branches, both left and right, terminate at the top with a single leaf. No. 5. Obverse, Letters of "Liberty" evenly spaced, a die crack extends from milling through the left arm of the let- ter " T ", and stand of same letter to the fore-lock. Anoth- er die-break starts in the field to the left of the lower curl, passing along the lower edge of the curl, through all the figures of the date. The figure 1 of date touches the hair of lower lock, the 7 and 9 widely spaced with the 6 nearly touching the 9; a die-break runs from the bust to milling to the right of the 6 of date, No. 12. Obverse In "Liberty" "B" and '*E" and "T" and "Y" are widely spaced, the 1 of date nearly touches the hair and the 6 high, and decidedly tilted to the left, nearly touches the bust. Eev. same as No. 11. No. 13. Obverse, The distinguishing feature of this cent, and by which it can be easily identified, is the wide space be- tween the letters "E" and "T" of ''Liberty". The date is nearly straight and has the appearance of being crowd- ed. Rev, The left branch of the wreath has 16 leaves, and the right branch 19 leaves, with 5 berries on each; the rib- bon bows are large minus the knot, and the pendant ends long and sprawling; figures of fraction distant from short dividing line; final "A" of "America" nearly touches the right ribbon end. No. 14. Obverse, This variety can easily be identified by the date which is straight, and the figure 6, which is tilted to the right, close to the 9 and connected with it by a small die-break. Between the 6 and bust is a raised point like a period, and between bust and chin, near the neck, are two more. Rev. The left branch of the wreath has 14 leaves, and the right branch 18 leaves, and each has 7 berries; the legend is very near the milling, the letters of which are nearly uniformly spaced and fairly distant from the wrtb. This reverse is a close copy of the reverse of the 1794 cents, having the high ribbon bows, knot and pendant ends, and the fraction near the milling. It is the only variety of the 1796 cents to have two berries immediately at the left of the bows. No. 15. Obverse "Liberty" very close to both milling and head, the letters "E" and "R" nearly touch the hair; in the date the figure 1 touches the hair, and the top of the 6 is merged with the bust; there is a crack in the die, extend- ing from the milling near the 9 of date, to the left, touch- ing the bottoms of both 7 and 1, and then the lower curl, and continuing on to the milling. Eev. There are sixteen leaves on the left branch of the wreath, and nineteen on the right branch, and six berries on each; the lowest leaf on the inside of the left branch touches "C" of "Cent", and the lowest on the inside of the right branch touches the "T" of the same word. A peculiarity of this coin is a single berry on the outside of the right branch, under the letter "C" of "America"; figures of fi'action distant from short dividing line. No. 16. Obverse ER of ' 'Liberty" closer to head than to milling; figures of date evenly spaced, except that 9 and 6 are closer than the other figures, the 6 is double-cut. Eeverse same as No. 10. Note— This specimen is in Mr. Miller's collection, it is a superb uncirculated coin, and only one other known of this variety. No. 17. Obv. resembles obv. 6, but "ER" further from hair and 1 of date much nearer curl. The die is badly broken over "Y" and along milling to "R." Rev. same as No. 6, No. 18. Obverse, same as No. 1. Reverse, left branch has 16 leaves and 5 berries; right branch, 19 leaves and 4 berries; right branch terminates with 2 leaves, legend distant from milling; "D" low and out of position; first "S" of "STATES" low; lowest leaf on right points to left foot of "A". No. 19. Obverse, same as No. 12. Reverse, left branch has 19 leaves and 5 berries; right branch 18 leaves and 4 berries, a berry on each side of the bow, letters of legend large and distant from milling, a leaf on left almost touches "D" of "UNITED." Frac- tional line long, reaching close to left ribbon-end; letters in "CENT" irregular, top of "N" higher than "E", and "T" leaning to right. No. 20. Obverse, "LIBERTY" evenly spaced,with "ER" close to hair, date curved, with even spacing, 1 close to curl, and 6 midway between bust and milling. Reverse, left branch has 16 leaves and 5 berries; right branch, 19 leaves and 5 berries, right branch terminates with 2 leaves; lowest leaf en right points to "C"; stems short, right stem pointing to right staud of "A"; left stem to the curve of "U"; "AT" and "AM" united at base; figures distant from fractional line. No. 21. Obverse, same as No. 14. Reverse, same as No. 5. Note. In the LIBERTY CAP Series L, and in the FILLET Series, Nos. 19, 20 and 21, are from the collection of Mr. Pyfer, of Lancaster, Pa. J A 4 /COPY. DcL TO CAT, OIV, " j^ ^4. ^^is^^Ki'W \ (^: LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 027 211 087 6 ^UXfC^^S^^H ?»i&: '^^^ f^'^- ft vi^Sv. jrJi ;^r^ FM' $?^ ^.f^-: Krik, ..iy*vliiV