1787 Massachusetts Cent Horned Eagle, PCGS VF35 CAC. This State of 1787 Massachusetts Cent is uniformly chocolate brown on both sides. Although circulated, the strike is sharp enough to read CENT on the eagle’s breast. For the grade, the surfaces are original, clean, and free of individual marks worthy of mention. The CAC sticker indicates that the coin is of premium quality and meets stringent standard within the grade. The smudge marks on the reverse left are on the holder not the coin.

Joseph Callender, a student of sliversmith Paul Revere, designed this coin. It portrays an Indian brave looking left holding a bow and arrow. One star is above in the upper left field. The inscription is COMMON WEALTH separated by the figure of the Indian. The reverse shows an eagle with a bundle of arrows in its left claw and an olive branch in its right. On its breast is a shield with the word CENT at its top.

There are a few varieties for this issue. They have a “horn” or no horn on the eagle, 4 or 5 leaves on the sprig. A period or no period before COMMON, and a single or double exergue line on the reverse. The present coin is the “Horned Eagle” variety, which resulted from a die defect.

In its population report, PCGS shows 11 “Horned Eagles” in VF35 with 44 better. As of January 2012, CAC shows 1, the present coin, and 1 better.