I got this one at the FUN show. A neat variety; it has 3 or 4 "wavy lines in front of the face," the result of die breaks. A decent low-grade example. Scarce.

A surprisingly elusive variety. It is a Rarity-3, but it took awhile to find a nice one. (Actually an EAC buddy did the work for me and emailed me a pic of this coin he had just purchased and offered it to me, since it had been on my wantlist forever. I immediately accepted!)

This is the third example of S-215 I've owned (and almost certainly the last!) I first saw this coin in Doug Bird's case at the FUN show in January 2012 - an extraordinarily nice VF. The cost was prohibitive, so I didn't think much else about it. However, I worked out a major trade with another dealer at the show, and this coin was part of the equation. Needless to say this was a substantial upgrade from the previous two coins. It came out of the Jules Reiver sale (as NGC VF35) and was also owned by Dan Holmes. An early die state with only light clashing at OF.

This is the second S-215 I've owned; it came out of a collection an EAC buddy of mine purchased. The first coin is below. This present coin is only an AG but has much better surfaces than the first one.

I purchased my first S-215 from a fixed price list - it's one that isn't seen too often, being a Rarity-5 coin with 30-75 known. (Note: It was R5 as the time I wrote this; it's now listed as R4+ in CQR.) After noting the various die breaks and clashes, it's evident that not too many of these were made. The obverse has a break in the left obverse field through the date and has reverse breaks through the fraction to the right rim and one through "TE" of UNITED. The most spectacular feature is the die clash on the reverse, where the tip of the bust caused major damage to the reverse die at "OF". A neat variety.

One of the common 1801s. I bought it because it was just a nice VG. Reverse is a bit nicer than the obverse. Distinct because the 100 in the fraction is very close together.

Back in August of 2010 I received an email from Barry Sloate, a dealer in vintage sportscards from Brooklyn, NY, who has purchased coins from me before. Back in 2008 Barry purchased a collection of 200+ unattributed large cents. Two years later he gets around to attributing this particular coin from the collection, and finds out it's a S-217! This is the rarest Sheldon-numbered draped bust variety at R6+. Barry asks if I'm interested in this coin, and we work out a deal for it.

S-217 is noted for LIBERTY positioned far right of the normal position, with major injury (incuse denticles) over BERTY, paired with the normal reverse of S-216. This is truly a variety I figured I'd never own, due to its rarity, and the fact that when they are offered they go for big bucks. I sent the coin to Bob Grellman for grading (and more importantly, authentication,) and he netted it a VG with obverse marks. This completes a Sheldon set of 1801 cents for me. As of this writing I'm down to needing one Sheldon-numbered variety from 1797 to 1814, the 1803 S-264.

One of the two "impossible" 1801 varieties, the other being the truly impossible S-217. Recognized easily by the blunt 1 in the date, but more so by LIBERTY positioned way too far to the right. I bought this coin (well, partially bought and partially traded for it) from an EAC buddy at EAC 2009. It's in a PCGS holder graded G6.

Another upgrade to this variety - this one is a nice VG, with the one below also a nice VG, but I liked this one better. This one came out of the EAC 2016 sale and was in an ANACS slab (keyword being "was"!) A neat late die state with a strong crack through UNI and a parallel crack above it. And all three errors are bold. So many of these have the fraction worn so that 1/000 isn't clear.

I've owned several examples of this variety, this being the nicest by far. Most of these come well-worn, porous, bent, you name it. Except for a very old obverse scrape (which blends in perfectly with the coin's original color,) this was a nice 'un. All three errors are bold. The three errors all occur on the reverse. They are: Missing left stem, 1/000 fraction, and "U" in UNITED punched upside down, then right side up, so it looks like "II". This specimen is a medium die state, with a die crack that starts at the bottom of the reverse rim, runs thru the second "0" in the fraction, then thru the ribbon and thru "UNI" in UNITED before exiting the rim at about K8. Later die states have a second arc-shaped crack above and parallel to the first.

I got this from an EAC friend that collects this variety by die state. This is a late die state, with advanced reverse cracks and a cud at "AT" of "STATES". I recently got a Canon G2 digital camera, and this is the first coin I took with it, strictly on AUTO setting (haven't read the manual yet.) Not too shabby for a first attempt, and it captures the good (detail) and the bad (porosity) of the coin quite well, as well as the color.

I got this one off of a fixed price list. One of the major varieties, the fraction was originally punched as 1/000, then a 1 punched over the first 0. A fairly common variety, but I had trouble finding one for a long time.

A variety I acquired about the same time as the S-214. An EAC friend offered it to me. A nice coin despite the obvious pits. This coin originally came out of a Superior auction in September of 2002.

One of the 1/000 error fraction varieties. I bought this one not because of the 1/000 but because it seems to be a very late die state, with a nice cud at the tip of the bust. Haven't seen too many of these. The 1/000 diagnostic shows, barely.

I got this one off of Auction Universe. It's a scarcer Late Die State with a heavy reverse rim break over "ME". The dealer I purchased it from estimates that perhaps 1 out of 4 S-224s exhibits this rim break. There's another smaller die break over the top of "F" that travels upward to the left over "O". Neat die state.