Found an 1853 large cent today Au50 ....However

[digitrich]

it has a small nail hole in the center but the rest of it is perfect, the red book lists it at 110 dollars. Does anyone know how much a nail hole murders the value of the coin??? Does it take it down a grade??? or seven grades like to kindergarten?? At least I didn't scratch it. Hey I also had a shield nickel I couldn't read the date on, so I used that "nick a date" and my date appeared briefly for about a minute 1869, then a minute later it disappears again leaving an etch mark I think is permanent, so be careful what you put it on. But at least I know what date it was.

 

[TobyH]

Old coins, such as large cents, which are "holed", will usually bring a fraction of the value they would bring without the hole. That's a common date and, even in that grade, is fairly common (meaning, not a rarity). The hole makes it about a $10-$15 coin. Sorry about that.

Cheers,
Toby (former collector)

 

[digitrich]

n/t

 

[TobyH]

Actually, that's how things were going when I used to be neck deep in early American coins. They may be different now, with ebay and such. The best way to see what a coin is worth is to watch ebay auctions for that specific date/condition and also for large cents with holes. There are currently a few out there, but few are getting any bids. The reason the value drops so much for holed L/Cs is there are plenty of nice undamaged examples available. One thing that's easy to forget, the catalog value represents the Retail Value you might expect to pay in a coin store, not what you could sell it for.

Still, that's a really cool find and it's still 153 years old and getting older all the time! I always try to imagine who may have held it in their hand or carried it in their pocket over those years. What was purchased with it? That's one of the reasons I love old coins. So much history!

Toby