One of the most famous late-series varieties in the Braided Hair Cent series, Newcomb-9, the so-called “Knob on Ear”. So named for the very large and obvious bulge right atop Liberty’s ear due to a chip/void in the die that filled with metal when coins were struck. This is actually made up of the raised chip as well as a couple of die cracks, one of which forms a crescent sharped loop below the main chip, and which formed over a period of time in stages. An enlarged image of this feature is shown courtesy of PCGS CoinFacts. An assiduous, not to mention very patient, collector who wanted a challenge could take on the project of hunting for all of the various die states, but it would take some time even given that the date is typically available. For actual wear, Almost Uncirculated, not a surprise as the “knob” was hard to miss. As it occurred near the very end of the series, high grade examples would have been put aside quickly not only as an oddity, but as examples of the vanishing large Coppers, replaced in 1857 by the Flying Eagle Cent. A few marks in the soft pure Copper surface, the most noticeable on Liberty’s mouth, as well as some along the rim. These are not as obvious on the coin when viewed in person, and would be largely hidden once placed into an album (for some reason, my images make them look far worse than they are), but discounted a bit to compensate. Otherwise original and a nice looking Brown coin.