1841 Large Cent - 1841 1C PCGS MS64BN CAC. This near-Gem 1841 Braided Hair Large Cent has excellent lustrous surfaces that are deep chocolate brown with hints of orange and yellow. There is also a splash of darker gray in the vicinity of Stars 4 and 5. The presence of these colors confirms the coins originality. The surfaces are hard and glossy with no individually distracting abrasion marks worth of description. The strike is above average with full details on the centers of most of the stars, the front of Libertys coronet, her hair, and the leaves on the reverse.  

Designed by Christian Gobrecht, the coin shows Liberty facing left in profile. Her portrait is tilted forward, with the left tip of the truncation over the 8 of the date. (For later dates, her head is larger and aligned in a vertical position. The tip of the truncation is over the first digit of the date.) She wears a LIBERTY inscribed coronet and her hair is tied in beads. She is surrounded by thirteen six-pointed stars with the date below. The reverse shows a closed wreath of laurel within which is the denomination written on two lines as ONE CENT. Around the wreath is the inscription UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. Dentils are on both sides of the coin, and the edge is plain.

Beginning in 1844, the reverse lettering was made larger. The result is that these later cents are less delicate in their appearance than the earlier ones. Many of these coins remained in circulation in the United States until late in the 1850s. In the eastern part of Canada, they circulated through the 1860s. Many examples seen today are heavily worn because of their use in commerce.

Gobrecht was the third Chief Engraver at the United States Mint. He was born in Hanover, Pennsylvania in 1785. His father was a German immigrant, and his mother traced her ancestry to the early settlers of Plymouth, Massachusetts. Gobrecht married Mary Hewes in 1818. One of his early positions was as an engraver of clocks in Baltimore. Later he went to Philadelphia where he became a banknote engraver. He invented a machine that allowed one to convert a three-dimensional medal into an illustration. This was an excellent job and Gobrecht was understandably reluctant to work for the Mint for less money than he was making at the engraving firm.

In order to persuade him to leave, Mint Director Robert Patterson prevailed upon Chief Engraver William Kneass, who had had a stroke, to take less in salary so more money would be available to hire Gobrecht on a permanent basis. In 1826 Gobrecht did his first work for the Mint as an assistant to Kneass. After Kneass stroke, Gobrecht did all the die and pattern work for the Mint. He became Chief Engraver in 1840 and served until his death in 1844. He was famous for his Liberty Seated motif, which was used for all denominations of silver coinage including the half-dime, dime, quarter dollar, half dollar and silver dollar. He also designed the Liberty Head gold eagle, a motif that was also used on the half-cent, the cent, the gold quarter eagle, and the gold half eagle. 

In its population report as of June 2013, CAC has confirmed 1, the present coin 1841 Large Cent, in MSBN64 condition with 2 higher.