U.S. Mint coin reference
Obverse: A draped bust of Liberty faces right, with her hair tied by a ribbon. LIBERTY appears above and the date below.
Reverse: ONE CENT fills the center of a wreath, UNITED STATES OF AMERICA follows the rim, and the fraction 1/100 identifies the cent in relation to a dollar.
The Draped Bust design replaced the Liberty Cap cent during 1796 and remained the Philadelphia Mint’s standard cent through 1807. Robert Scot’s portrait brought the copper denomination into the same visual family as contemporary federal silver coins.
These cents were made on the reduced 10.89-gram standard adopted in 1795. Hand-prepared dies produced many differences in dates, lettering, wreath details, and the fraction, which specialists organize by Sheldon variety. Notable 1807 diagnostics include the 1807/6 overdate and the so-called Comet variety.
No cents dated 1808 used this portrait. John Reich’s Classic Head design succeeded the Draped Bust type, closing a twelve-date run that records the Mint’s transition from individually prepared early dies toward more consistent nineteenth-century production.