This type features the normal (i.e., not repunched) date with Liberty's portrait placed low in the field. The point of the bust and end of the pole are very close to the border, the date seemingly crowded between the portrait and border. The digit 1 in the date is thick, and the letter Y in LIBERTY is repunched along its right side. This obverse also appears in the 1797 C-3a and 3c attributions. A single leaf at the top of each branch in the wreath, four 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. The letters UN in UNITED are closely spaced, the letters ICA in AMERICA are widely spaced. There is a leaf point below the center of the letter E in AMERICA. This reverse also appears in the Cohen-3a and 3c attributions.

Cohen-3b corresponds to the Low Head, Lettered Edge Guide Book variety of the 1797 half cent.

Cohen-3b is the Lettered Edge variety of the 1797 Low Head half cent, all examples of which were overstruck on spoiled large cents. Faint remnants of the undertype are discernible on the obverse of this coin, as above. This variety has been eagerly sought by specialists since before the Civil War. The earliest known auction appearance was in Edward Cogan's sale of May 31, 1860, and the Mickley sale of 1867 also included one. Even before the turn of the 20th century numismatists had recognized the rarity of this Cohen number. In the May 1880 edition of Coin Collector's Journal, David U. Proskey stated of the Lettered Edge 1797 half cent, "We do not believe more than five are known in this country."

Today upward of 200 examples of the 1797 C-3b are believed extant, which is certainly more than had been confirmed in Proskey's day, but still far too small a number to satisfy demand from early copper specialists. The grade distribution of this variety is similar to most others in the Liberty Cap half cent series: most are in the lowest circulated grades, often impaired.

The example to the left was sold by Stack's Bowers Galleries in the March 2020 Baltimore Auction, where it realized $14,400.