1835 Matron Head Large Cent (Head of 1836) N-8 Obverse Spiked Head

Description

The 1835 Matron Head Large Cent N-8 Obverse Spiked Head is attributed under the Newcomb classification system, the standard reference for die varieties among early American large cents. The die crack that defines this variety enters from the rim beneath the 1 of the date, travels through the inside edge of the 1, and continues upward through the bust behind the ear — a trajectory that, in its earlier stages, produces the spike-like appearance from which the Spiked Head name derives. The 1835 Head of 1836 portrait is a transitional obverse, representing the modified Matron Head design that anticipated the following year's portrait revisions, making N-8 a die variety of both numismatic and design-history significance. Large cents of this period were struck in pure copper at the Philadelphia Mint and cataloged exhaustively by Newcomb in the nineteenth century. The N-8 die crack's path through the bust provides a confident attribution marker visible under modest magnification, and its progression from a fine spike to a developed crack documents the die's life across surviving specimens. Spiked heads occur when a small die crack develops on the obverse die near Liberty's head, creating a raised spike or thorn-like projection on the struck coin.

Attribution History

• Discovered by NumisDexDealer
• Newcomb N-8