A nice original Brown Unc example of the first U. S. Small Cent struck in Bronze, replacing the Copper-Nickel type struck since 1859. As noted in Snow’s text on the series, the Mint did not bother to produce new dies when they transitioned from the earlier Copper-Nickel alloy planchets to the new French Bronze in May of 1864. As a result, the dies used for these were commonly well worn from the hammering they took striking the much harder CN Cents, evident on this example particularly on the Reverse which shows obvious die wear. Very clean surfaces with no noticeable marks however, and on a problem free planchet with no spots or stains, somewhat unusual for the date. I will note that as of August, 2019, PCGS has tightened up their grading and is actually taking strike into account in assigning a grade, in my opinion, for the first time in a number of years - as a result, this coin is very nice for the assigned grade.

PCGS 2076.63/37814701