1799 Draped Bust Large Cent
Circulation strike struck at the Philadelphia Mint · 42,540 made
- Mintage
- 42,540
- Metal
- 100% copper
- Weight
- 10.89 g
- Diameter
- 29 mm
Original illustration. Tap to flip. Not a photograph of the actual coin.
Face value · Metal value · Small premium · Collector premium · Significant rarity. We use bands because prices change daily.
What is a 1799 Draped Bust Large Cent worth?
This is one of the dates collectors hunt for. A genuine 1799 is valuable in any condition, even well worn. That's exactly why fakes and altered coins turn up so often.
What would make yours worth more:
- Uncirculated condition with full original luster
- Full red copper color (labeled RD) rather than brown
- A die variety or minting error
- Certification by PCGS or NGC, which buyers expect for scarce dates
For market prices, check recent sold results for certified coins in the same grade.
Quick answers
- Is the 1799 Draped Bust Large Cent rare?
- Yes. Only 42,540 were made, the lowest of any regular Draped Bust Large Cent.
- Where is the mint mark on a 1799 Draped Bust Large Cent?
- No mint mark. All struck in Philadelphia.
- Which Philadelphia dates near 1799 are scarcer?
- None. Within five years either side, no Philadelphia issue had a smaller mintage than the 1799.
- How many 1799 Draped Bust Large Cent coins were made?
- 42,540.
What to check on your 1799
- There's no mint mark on this one, so the date and condition are what matter.
- Check the date and mint mark under magnification for tooling or added letters. Scarce dates are the ones forgers alter.
- Old coins pick up damage over a long life. Look for holes, bends, scratches or signs of cleaning before you judge the grade, because a damaged coin sells for a fraction of a problem-free one.
- Judge the grade under good light. Check the hair above the forehead and ear and the drapery lines at the shoulder. Original, smooth brown surfaces are worth far more than cleaned or porous coins of the same sharpness.
Most surviving coppers from 1799 show some corrosion, scratches or porous surfaces. Smooth, evenly toned coins are much scarcer than the mintage suggests, so surface quality matters as much as the grade. Low-mintage dates attract altered and counterfeit coins. Check that the date have not been tooled or added, or buy one already certified by PCGS or NGC.
The story of the 1799
Production at Philadelphia fell off a cliff in 1799. Only 42,540 were made, against 1.8 million the year before. That drop is why the 1799 is the one people look for. In 1800 the figure was 2.8 million.
No other mint struck it for circulation that year, so every 1799 you find is from Philadelphia. In the whole series, its mintage sits closest to the 1804 (96,500) and the 1806 (348,000).
Of the 12 Draped Bust Large Cents Philadelphia struck between 1796 and 1807, this is the scarcest. No Draped Bust Large Cent of the 1790s had a smaller run.
Gilbert Stuart's portrait and the overdate years (1796 to 1800)
Robert Scot adapted Gilbert Stuart's portrait of Liberty for the cent in late 1796, keeping the 168 grain weight. The early dies vary a great deal: 1796 alone has several reverse styles plus the famous LIHERTY error, where the B was cut over an R. In 1797 the Mint used both stemmed and stemless wreaths. Copper planchets bought from Matthew Boulton's works in Birmingham, England, began to supplement American copper late in the decade and improved quality.
The Mint saved money by reusing old dies, which created the 1798/7 overdate, the 1799/8 and the two 1800 overdates (over 1798 and over 179). The 1799 is the key of the whole design: only 42,540 cents were reported that year, partly because yellow fever closed the Mint and many cents struck in 1799 still carried the 1798 date. Most 1799 cents survive heavily worn. Altered dates are common, so experts check the shape of every digit.
Dies in this period were cut and recut by hand, so a single date can show several arrangements of digits, stems and berries in the wreath. The 1799 overdate and the 1800 overdates over 1798 and 1799 belong to these years. Collectors attribute the different dies by Sheldon numbers, from Penny Whimsy, the standard reference on early cents.
Elsewhere in US coinage in 1799
Cents dated 1799 were made in tiny numbers, which makes the 1799 one of the great rarities of the large cent series.
How to recognize it
Liberty faces right with her hair tied by a ribbon and a drape across her bust. LIBERTY is above and the date below. The reverse shows a wreath around ONE CENT, the fraction 1/100 beneath it and UNITED STATES OF AMERICA around the rim. Die cracks, recut dates and stems on the wreath create dozens of varieties that specialists collect by their Sheldon numbers.
Mintage chart
Specifications
| Series | Draped Bust Large Cent (1796–1807) |
|---|---|
| Year | 1799 |
| Mint | Philadelphia Mint |
| Mint mark | None |
| Strike type | Circulation strike |
| Mintage | 42,540 |
| Face value | 1¢ |
| Composition | 100% copper |
| Weight | 10.89 grams |
| Diameter | 29 mm |
| Edge | Plain |
| Designer | Robert Scot, after a portrait by Gilbert Stuart |
Mintage: United States cent mintage figures (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0), compiled from US Mint records and the Guide Book of United States Coins. How we build these pages.