Normal (i.e., not repunched) date with Liberty's portrait well centered in the field. A die defect protrudes from Liberty's neck above the pole, described as a "wart" by Breen. This is the only use of this obverse die. A single leaf at the top of each branch in the wreath, five berries on the left branch, three on the right branch; there is a berry on the left side of the bow, but not on the right side. There is a die scratch above the left corner of the letter I in UNITED that slants up to the right. The same die as that used for the 1797 C-1 variety.

Cohen-2 is the only die marriage of the Centered Head, Plain Edge Guide Book variety of the 1797 half cent.

Most numismatic scholars concur that all 1797 C-2 half cents were struck in a single marriage after the Mint finished production of the 1797 C-1 variety. Indicative of the challenges that the early United States Mint faced in procuring suitable copper planchet stock, examples are known struck on rolled copper (Breen-2a), spoiled large cents (Breen-2b), and cut down Talbot, Allum & Lee cents (Breen-2c).

The 1797 C-2, like most early half cent varieties, is typically encountered in lower grades through VF, and most are also impaired with dark, rough surfaces. Universally regarded as the finest known, the Cleneay-Mills-Bareford-Missouri Cabinet-Pogue specimen in PCGS MS-66 BN fetched $293,750 as lot 3011 in our February 2016 Pogue III sale.

The example to the left was sold by Stack's Bowers Galleries in the D. Brent Pogue Part III Auction, where it realized $293,750.