Two recent sales of 1793 Flowing Hair, Chain cents show that even coins with the most severe issues, like crude plugs, have a healthy market.

Stack’s Bowers Galleries presented one graded Good Details, Plugged, Scratches by Numismatic Guaranty Co. on April 4 that sold for $3,360. The cataloger praised the “medium greenish-brown patina” and noted the crude plug that is lighter than the remainder of the coin, the varied rim bruises and scattered marks in the fields, before calling it “desirable as an affordable, ‘filler’ example.

More detailed, and more expensive, was an example graded NGC Very Fine Details, Plugged, that sold for $5,760 in a Heritage auction on Nov. 11, 2021. This one enjoyed “medium reddish-brown patina.” A crudely plugged hole, darker than the host coin, is also seen at the top of the obverse along with rim bruises and scattered marks.

Both provided examples of this first distinct large cent type at relatively modest prices when compared to their less problematic counterparts.

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