1800 Draped Bust Large Cent S-197 Obverse Cud

Description

An obverse cud die break appears on this 1800 Draped Bust Large Cent, attributed to the Sheldon S-197 die variety. A section of the obverse die along the rim broke away between the letters I and B in LIBERTY, with the break extending below the B and E, leaving a raised, featureless area on the struck coin where the missing die fragment could no longer impress design detail into the planchet. The location of this cud — spanning multiple letters in the LIBERTY inscription — indicates a substantial rim failure that removed a significant arc of the die edge, creating a correspondingly large blank zone on every coin struck after the fracture occurred. The 1800 Draped Bust Cent was struck during the third year of Robert Scot's Draped Bust design, which had been adopted for the large cent in 1796 and would continue through 1807. Sheldon S-197 identifies this specific die marriage within Dr. William Sheldon's comprehensive catalog of early large cent die varieties, a reference system that remains the standard for attributing cents from this era. Philadelphia Mint production, on hand-rolled copper planchets struck with screw presses. Early American large cents are prized by specialists who collect by die variety, and cud breaks add dramatic visual interest to an already historically significant coin from the formative years of the United States Mint.

Attribution History

• Discovered by NumisDexDealer
• Sheldon S-197