1793 1C Flowing Hair Chain Cent, Periods PCGS XF45BN (CAC)

Great rarity from the first year of the U.S. Mint—in the classic PCGS Old Green Holder!

This is a rare, desirable issue. A mintage of 36,103 Chain Cents was struck at the Philadelphia Mint from March 1 to 12 of 1793. “Several varieties of the 1793 Chain Cent exist,” writes Ron Guth. “The "Periods" variety has distinct periods after LIBERTY and the date. Since neither of these were abbreviations, the presence of the periods is puzzling.”

However, Heritage Auctions explained the periods in August of 2024: “The engraver placed periods after the date and LIBERTY on the obverse of this variety that was the final Chain cent coined before the design overhaul that resulted in the 1793 Wreath cent design.” The “Periods” variety is the greatest rarity of the 1793 Chain Cents.

The 1793 “Periods” Chain Cent is under significant demand from major variety collectors, die variety collectors, type collectors, and first-year-of-issue collectors. PCGS has graded 5 as XF45BN with 7 finer. In CAC, there are 5 in XF45 with 16 finer.

The finest known 1793 1C Flowing Hair Chain Cent “Periods” graded MS66BN by PCGS. Photo: PCGS Coinfacts.