1795 Jefferson Head, Lettered Edge

The "Jefferson Head" variety of the 1795 large cent carries a portrait of Liberty that looks nothing like the standard Liberty Cap design. The head is plainer, the hair is simpler, and the overall style is distinctly different from Robert Scot's work. The name comes from a vague resemblance to Thomas Jefferson's profile, but Jefferson had nothing to do with the coin. The actual maker was John Harper, an independent businessman and saw-maker from Philadelphia who proposed to supply coinage to the Mint under contract.

Harper approached the Mint with suggestions for machinery improvements but was treated dismissively. In response, he built his own press and cut his own dies to demonstrate his methods. The "Jefferson Head" cents are the result: sample coins produced outside the Mint, using dies that imitated the Liberty Cap design but with Harper's limited die-cutting skill clearly visible. His talent was in machining, not portraiture, and the coins show it. The Lettered Edge version carries the standard ONE HUNDRED FOR A DOLLAR edge inscription.

The Jefferson Head, Lettered Edge is a major rarity. PCGS records a mintage of just 8 coins, with only 5 known survivors. The finest certified is a VF30. An example graded Fair-2 sold for $36,800 at Goldberg in 2009. The coin represents the only known instance of an outsider producing competing dies for an American denomination during the Mint's earliest years.

For collectors of early large cents, the Jefferson Head is one of the series' most intriguing varieties. It raises questions about who was cutting dies at the Mint, whether outside contractors were involved, and how a die so stylistically different from the standard product entered regular production. The Lettered Edge version, paired with the Plain Edge Jefferson Head, gives the variety two distinct collectible forms.