My 1st Large Cent - 1817 with Altered ONE C*NT Font

[wayfas4u]

Well I found my first Large Cent at My Grandfathers yard in South Georgia. Rang up really nice, 4” in the ground. I was very excited, then I noticed the text has been altered with ONE ****. Apparently dirty minds have been around for a long time! Has anybody else ever dug one of these? Please tell me the history on these alterations.

 

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[Centsless Detecting]

Thats awesome. It was probably a brothel token. You buy the coin. Give it to the lady of the night. Then she gives it to the madam to get her payment. Not bad for a first large cent.

 

[wayfas4u]

Thanks Mildetector, I compared it to another Large Cent I bought, same size, same weight even rings up the same!

 

[Professor of Engineering]

Congrats on the old copper in very good shape, except for the spelling mistake.

 

[Argentium]

I know that I have heard about this particular alteration before here on this site , but this must be a fairly rare find !

 

[mope540]

Great find!!! ...I didn't know that 'the C word" is that old.

 

[lenmac65]

I thought that was modern slang... learn something new every day. Interesting coin in nice condition. Cungrats!

 

[Digger RJ]

Nice!!!!!! Congrats!!!!!!

 

[Centsless Detecting]

Thanks Mildetector, I compared it to another Large Cent I bought, same size, same weight even rings up the same!

No problem. It started out as the real deal but was altered by someone at some point in time. Fairly rare indeed they dont come up often.

 

[fistfulladirt]

At first I thought it was a mint error.

 

[E-Trac-Ohio]

Congrats on your first LC - a unique find !

 

[nkellam22]

Definitely seen them before.
I remember seeing someone find one of them in a video a while back.
Found it!

 

[ajaj]

Definitely a brothel token...and altered large cent. Excellent find!

aj

 

[JeffInMass]

That's quite a first large cent you nabbed- great shape and interesting altering, to say the least- very cool!

 

[treblehunter]

amazing, congrats!

 

[wayfas4u]

Thank you for the video and all the comments! Makes me feel better understanding the history about this unique spelling! Besides it really opens up a good conversation starter!

 

[david680]

I'm unaware that there is any evidence that these were used as brothel tokens. Maybe there is, and I'd love to see it, but I'm inclined to believe this is just graffiti. The whole brothel token thing looks to me like a salesman's gimmick. That said, it's a interesting find, Congrats.

 

[creskol]

That is way cool! Great find!

 

[creskol]

I'm unaware that there is any evidence that these were used as brothel tokens. Maybe there is, and I'd love to see it, but I'm inclined to believe this is just graffiti. The whole brothel token thing looks to me like a salesman's gimmick. That said, it's a interesting find, Congrats.

https://en.numista.com/catalogue/pieces104330.html

 

[david680]

https://en.numista.com/catalogue/pieces104330.html

Not exactly evidence with any authority. Not a single source listed.

Here's the best argument for these not being brothel tokens. Lack of control. Enterprising gentlemen would have altered large cents themselves before arriving at the bordello. Not that hard to do. Pretty sure that any bordello using these would have become the hottest place in town, right up until the madam figured out that she was redeeming more tokens than she was selling.

And the latter half of the 19th century would have gentlemen moaning about the rate of inflation, as they used to get "Laid for a Largie."