1812 Large Cent

Another dig find: 1812 Large Cent

The United States large cent was a coin with a face value of 1/100 of a United States dollar. Its diameter varied between 27mm and 29mm. The first official mintage of the large cent was in 1793, and its production continued until 1857, when it was officially replaced by the modern-size one-cent coin (commonly called the penny).
Large cents were made of nearly pure copper, or copper as pure as it emerged from smelting, without any deliberate addition of other metals (such as occurs in bronze).
First struck in 1793, the large cent was coined every year from 1793 to 1857 minus one year (1815) due to a shortage of copper.[1] The Philadelphia Mint produced all large cents, which contained twice the copper of the half cent. This made the coins bulky and heavy, bigger than modern-day U.S. Quarters.