Abbey, Lorenzo Harris (1822-1881), was born on January 14, 1822, in Kinderbrook, near Albany, New York.

He and his wife Ann B. Loosee had a daughter Ann Eveline (born 1848). The 1880 Census lists him as a Fish and Tackle Merchant, widowed, living in Brooklyn, New York.

His first known coin auction sale is by Henry H. Leeds & Co., New York, who auctioned his coins on September 8, 1863. A year later W. E. Woodward cataloged coins from four collections Levick, Emery, Ilsley and Abbey in Woodward Sale 10, October 18-22, 1864 sold by G. A. Leavitt.

Emmanuel Joseph Attinelli in Numisgraphics discusses this sale and relates the following:

He is listed in Lain's Brooklyn Directory as a merchant with a shop in which he was a partner of the firm Abbey & Imbrie located at 48 Maiden Lane, Brooklyn, New York, and his home address as 176 South Elliott Place, New York. The firm was originally founded in 1820 by J. Warrin, the first to exclusively sell Fish and Tackle gear. About 1861 Abbey joined the firm, then renamed as Andrew Clerk & Co., as a clerk and worked his way up to senior partner. In 1875 the firm again changed names this time to Abbey & Imbrie. He and his partner C. F. Imbrie jointly owned a trout preserve on Green's River, near Sayville, Long Island. Abbey invented a trout fly known as the "Abbey fly".

Also in 1875 he issued "Price List of United States Copper Cents for Sale by L. H. Abbey. Box 23, South Orange, New Jersey."

According to the records of the East Orange Historical Society he owned property in East Orange, New Jersey, at 153 Hollywood Avenue, and 250 William Street.

He is famous for the 1799 Large Cent that has come to be known as the Abbey cent.

He died at Jacksonville, Florida on March 17, 1881

To read the complete article, see:
ABBEY, LORENZO HARRIS (https://sites.google.com/site/numismaticmallcom/encyclopedic-dictionary-of-numismatic-biographies/abbey-lorenzo-harris)

To read the complete Abbey Cent auction lot description, see: The Famous Abbey Cent
Census-Level 1799 S-189 Large Cent (http://coins.ha.com/itm/large-cents/1799-1c-normal-date-xf45-pcgs-s-189-b-3-high-r2/a/460-2192.s)