Lot 443
1851 Large Cent
Sold December 12, 2025
- Price realized
- $60
Price realized is the winning bid (hammer price) and excludes buyer’s premium.
About this lot
Estimated Value: $50-175
Origin: United States
Denomination: One Cent
Year: 1851
Mint: Philadelphia
Grade/Condition: AU/MS
Metal: Copper
Weight (+/- 0.2g): Estimated: 14.2 Grams
Additional Description: The 1851 Large Cent stands near the end of an era in American coinage, embodying both the artistry and the practicality of early U.S. minting. Struck from pure copper at the Philadelphia Mint, it features Christian Gobrecht’s refined “Braided Hair” design, introduced in 1839. On the obverse, Liberty wears a coronet inscribed with her name, her profile framed by thirteen stars representing the original states. The reverse bears the familiar wreath encircling the denomination “ONE CENT,” a design both simple and deeply emblematic of mid-nineteenth-century American ideals.
By 1851, these large copper cents had already begun to feel cumbersome in daily use. Their size and weight were impractical for an increasingly mobile and industrial society, setting the stage for their replacement just a few years later by the smaller Flying Eagle cent. Yet the 1851 issue remains one of the most accessible and appealing entries in the series, struck in large numbers and often well preserved.
To hold an 1851 Large Cent is to connect with a formative period in the nation’s history, when coinage still carried the tangible heft of its value and Liberty’s image reflected a young republic’s sense of purpose and identity.
Lot details
- Lot
- 443
- Auction
- Gold and Silver Showcase
- Closed
- December 12, 2025
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