1834 Coronet (Matron Head) Large Cent
Circulation strike struck at the Philadelphia Mint · 1,855,100 made
- Mintage
- 1,855,100
- Metal
- 100% copper
- Weight
- 10.89 g
- Diameter
- 28–29 mm
Original illustration. Tap to flip. Not a photograph of the actual coin.
Face value · Metal value · Small premium · Collector premium · Significant rarity. We use bands because prices change daily.
What is an 1834 Coronet (Matron Head) Large Cent worth?
It's scarcer than a typical date, so even circulated examples sell above face. The best uncirculated coins are where the money is.
What would make yours worth more:
- Uncirculated condition with full original luster
- Full red copper color (labeled RD) rather than brown
- A die variety or minting error
- Certification by PCGS or NGC, which buyers expect for scarce dates
For market prices, check recent sold results for certified coins in the same grade.
Quick answers
- Is the 1834 Coronet (Matron Head) Large Cent rare?
- Somewhat. 1,855,100 were made, fewer than most dates, so collectors treat it as a semi-key.
- Where is the mint mark on an 1834 Coronet (Matron Head) Large Cent?
- No mint mark. All struck in Philadelphia.
- Which Philadelphia dates near 1834 are scarcer?
- The 1829 at 1,414,500, the 1830 at 1,711,500. So the 1834 is on the scarcer side for those years.
- How many 1834 Coronet (Matron Head) Large Cent coins were made?
- 1,855,100.
What to check on your 1834
- There's no mint mark on this one, so the date and condition are what matter.
- Proof or circulation strike? A proof has mirror-like fields and frosted design details and was sold to collectors, not released in change. The 1834 Coronet (Matron Head) Large Cent Proof (15 made) is the one to compare with.
- Old coins pick up damage over a long life. Look for holes, bends, scratches or signs of cleaning before you judge the grade, because a damaged coin sells for a fraction of a problem-free one.
- Judge the grade under good light. Wear first shows on the hair curls, the coronet and the leaves of the wreath. Mint-red coins exist from hoards, but most survivors are brown.
Most surviving coppers from 1834 show some corrosion, scratches or porous surfaces. Smooth, evenly toned coins are much scarcer than the mintage suggests, so surface quality matters as much as the grade.
The story of the 1834
Output at Philadelphia slipped to 1,855,100 in 1834, from 2.7 million the year before. In 1835 the figure was 3.9 million.
No other mint struck it for circulation that year, so every 1834 you find is from Philadelphia. In the whole series, its mintage sits closest to the 1830 (1,711,500) and the 1822 (2,072,339).
Across Philadelphia's 24 Coronet (Matron Head) Large Cent issues, the hardest to find is the 1821 with 389,000 made. The 1834 is on the scarcer side of the middle. Among the 1830s issues, only the 1830 had a smaller run.
Date and letter size varieties (1828 to 1834)
Mintages stayed between roughly 1.4 and 3.4 million each year as commerce expanded. This is a period of small but collectible changes in the punches: the 1828 has a Large Narrow Date and a Small Wide Date, while the 1829 comes with large letters and medium letters on the reverse. The 1834 combines large or small 8 with large or small stars in several pairings.
Collectors usually identify these cents by Newcomb numbers, from Howard Newcomb's reference on cents from 1816 to 1857. Proofs continue in tiny numbers and are rarities for every date. Better made planchets mean circulated coins from these years often look smoother than earlier Coronets. The dentils and stars tend to be sharper. Uncirculated pieces are scarce for most dates in this group, since there was no large hoard as with the earlier years.
Elsewhere in US coinage in 1834
The Coinage Act of 1834 reduced the gold content of US gold coins so that they would stop being melted and exported. The change set the gold-to-silver ratio at about 16 to 1.
How to recognize it
Liberty faces left wearing a coronet inscribed LIBERTY, with 13 stars around her and the date below. Collectors call the early version the Matron Head because of her mature features. The reverse is a continuous wreath around ONE CENT with UNITED STATES OF AMERICA around the rim. Later dates use a slightly younger portrait and finer details.
Mintage chart
Specifications
| Series | Coronet (Matron Head) Large Cent (1816–1839) |
|---|---|
| Year | 1834 |
| Mint | Philadelphia Mint |
| Mint mark | None |
| Strike type | Circulation strike |
| Mintage | 1,855,100 |
| Face value | 1¢ |
| Composition | 100% copper |
| Weight | 10.89 grams |
| Diameter | 28–29 mm |
| Edge | Plain |
| Designer | Robert Scot |
Other 1834 Coronet (Matron Head) Large Cent issues
| Coin | Mintage | Type | Silver |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1834 Coronet (Matron Head) Large Cent | 1,855,100 | Circulation strike | – |
| 1834 Coronet (Matron Head) Large Cent Proof | 15 | Proof | – |
Mintage: United States cent mintage figures (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0), compiled from US Mint records and the Guide Book of United States Coins. How we build these pages.