According to the Red Book and other sources, in 1817 the Philadelphia Mint produced 3,948,400 large cents, consisting of 17 known identified varieties.  It is difficult to ascertain how many of each of the seventeen varieties were produced; it gets even harder to determine production considering the Mint recalled large cents after 1857 in part due to the cost to produce a cent...like today the cost to produce one cent in 1817 is actually closer to two cents (current US Mint data suggests today's one-cent production costs are closer to 3 cents).  Additionally in the 1860s the country was engaged in the Civil War and that demaned more copper so a lot of copper large cents (and half cents) flowed into the war effort (maybe on both sides).

It is difficult to say how many of each of the seventeen varieties were manufactured at the Mint, but assuming a straight average, that would imply that each variety was produced about 230,000 large cents.  This is somewhat aligned with other data that suggest a pair of dies would last about 100,000 impressions...with weaker dies having shorter lifetimes and stronger dies lasting longer - and given the number of die breaks in the 1817 N12 large cent, in all likely hood, the dies did not survive to 100,000 strikes.  (Note: some data exists that shows ca 1994 circulation strikes have lasted to 500,000 impressions).

Based on the rariety scale, the seventeen 1817 varieties account for a population about 15,000 to 20,000 coins, especially with the R1's accounting for seven of the seventeen varieties, or about 0.51% of the entire production.  Making a long stretch assumption, that would tend to indicate that of the N12 variety, approximately 1200 survived; or if the die life was way below average, perhaps 600 survived.

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Last Updated: 26 May 2025