Indian Head Bronze Cents 1864-1909

The shots at Fort Sumter that launched the Civil War didn't enclose out pending April 12, 1861, but preparations for war were under way well before that-plus financial preparations. Expecting the conflict, edgy Americans on both sides of the Mason-Dixon Line began sign gold and silver

coins. The stride of this activity accelerated following the choice of Abraham Lincoln to the presidency in November of 1860, for he was perceived as a hard-line Unionist suspect to compromise with southern politicians. It reached fever pitch after Dec. 28, 1861, when New York banks suspended specie payments in reponse to the issuance of national paper money which was not redeemable in coin. By the summer of 1862, precious-metal coins all but disappeared from circulation.

Not being made of precious metal, cents sustained to circulate for a few months longer. In verity, it seemed inconceivable the Americans would pile cents. The large, intrinsically effective copper cents used since the inception of the realm's change were replaced in 1857 by the slighter copper-nickel Flying Eagle cents-fiat issues, merit minus as metal than, as money. That was curious in the mid-19th century; most U. S. Coins had high intrinsic appraise, and Americans had come to assume and even insist this in their penny. Nonetheless, the broadcast had welcomed the large cents' demise, considering the coins too cumbersome for usual use.

The new small cents-known as "colorless cents" because of their pale incline-became even more accepted in 1859 when, due to striking problems, the Mint replaced the creative Flying Eagle affect with a new one depicting a female clothed in a feathered Indian crown. This "Indian Head" portrait, not a native American profile but apparently modeled after the Greco-Roman model Venus Accroupie, had widespread urge, reinforcing the acceptance the colorless cents already enjoyed because of their versatile dimension.

Production levels were high-far superior to those of the large cents they replaced-and it was common education that the metal in each coin was worth excluding than one cent. Nevertheless the Civil War shattered many accepted beliefs, counting the perception that small-limit, low-assess cents were immune from notice.

Initially, bags of cents served as one of the central means of payment for anxious merchants deprived of silver coins. Before long, however, the cents too became a target for hoarders. They were, after all, government-release coins, and as such were preferable to the all-but-irredeemable "shinplasters" (scrip and wildcat pile comments) being generally presented. Furthermore, the worth of nickel-fueled by wartime pressure-was rising promptly, giving these nickel-alloy coins bigger intrinsic cost. By December 1862, cents had coupled gold and silver coins on the step.

That was when need gave birth to invention-not by Uncle Sam but by secretive entrepreneurs. To stuff the vacuum left by the departure of federal money, merchants and promoters began producing cent-sized model tokens, normally effect an oblique or even exact potential of redemption in cargo, navy or money. These "Civil War tokens" gained broad acceptance as a money substitute. Mint officials were duly impressed, and in 1864 they reshaped the cent in these tokens' aura, replacing the copper-nickel "ashen cent" with a slimmed-down rendering made of figurine.

Besides being darker in paint, the new cent was one-third lighter in substance. Its diameter was unchanged, however, and it still bore the same Indian Head face model and unadorned circlet and shelter transpose fashioned for its predecessor by the Mint's chief engraver, James B. Longacre. The new coin's components were less expensive than nickel, and this mutual with its sink emphasis made it much cheaper to fabricate. It was also easier to reach, as figure is much softer than nickel. And like the tokens it successfully replaced, it enjoyed ready acceptance from the municipal, effectively finale the dearth of cents in circulation.

Both kinds of cents were issued in 1864, with the sculpture outnumbering the copper nickel by about 3-to-1. Despite its higher mintage, the image cent provided the year's scarcest class: one on which Longacre's first "L" appears on the ribbon of the Indian's boater. The designer didn't add this until recent in the year, so relatively few 1864 cents have it. Apparently, a large mass of these "L" cents went to England, for many pieces were improved from there in the 1950s and 60s.

Bronze Indian cents remained in production lacking interruption for near half a century before giving way to the Abraham Lincoln kind in 1909. The invent remained the same for the intact run except for instant changes in 1886, when the then chief engraver, Charles Barber, faintly lowered the relief and made a small change in the stand of the bust. For all but the last two time, Indian Heads were struck only at the chief mint in Philadelphia; in 1908 and 1909, the San Francisco office struck cents, the period in very limited quantities. On these, the "S" mint show appears below the garland on the switch.

Total mintage for the string reached almost 1.6 billion, along with 96,848 proofs. Annual production topped 100 million only once, in 1907, and sank below one million for just two issues: 1877 and 1909-S. At 309,000 pieces, 1909-S has the lowly mintage, but the 1877-at 852,500-is more valuable, because fewer examples were set departure. Other scarce issues include the 1869 with a doubled 9, 1872 and 1908-S. Proofs were struck every year, usually in the thousands, except for the prior days which saw mintages under 1,000. The 1864 coins had the minimum testimony mintages: 150 for the no "L" form and only 20 for the with "L" coin, making it a major scarcity. Counterfeits subsist, particularly of coins dated 1877 and 1909-S, and to a smaller extent, the 1864 "L," the 1866 to 1878 issues and 1908-S. Questionable pieces should always be authenticated.

When grading Indian Head cents, the first chairs to show bear on the obverse will be the locks above the ear and the twist to the right of the ribbon; on the annul, bill the bow tether.

Mint asserted examples survive in substantial quantities in grades up to MS-65, but their population drops sharply in MS-66 and above. Fully red coins, of course, are rarer still. Although the chain is relatively long, it encompasses just 51 pieces-even plus 1864 L, 1869/9 and the Open 3 and Closed 3 cents of 1873-because there are only two twig-mint issues. Given this fact and the limited number of high-priced rarities, many collectors assemble undivided date-and-mint sets. The chain relics one of the most accepted of all United States issues.

SPECIFICATIONS:

Diameter: 19 millimeters Weight: 3.11 grams Composition: .950 copper.050 tin and zinc Edge: Plain

BIBLIOGRAPHY: Bowers, Q. David, A Buyer's and Enthusiast's Guide to Fly Eagle and Indian Cents, Bowers & Merena Galleries, Wolfeboro, NH, 1996. Breen, Walter, Walter Breen's Complete Encyclopedia of U.S. and Colonial Coins, F.C.I. Press/Doubleday, New York, 1988. Snow, Richard, Flying Eagle & Indian Cents, Eagle Eye Press, 1992. Steve, Larry R. & Flynn, Kevin J. Flying Eagle and Indian Cent Die Varieties, Nuvista Press, Jarrettsville, MD, 1995. Taxay, Don, The U.S. Mint and Coinage, Arco Publishing Co. Inc., New York, 1966. Vermeule, Cornelius, Numismatic Art in America, The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA, 1971.

Coin Information Provided Courtesy NGC.

Flying Eagle Cents 1856-1858 Coin

By the mid-1850s it was evident to Mint officials that the large copper cents struck since 1793 were too cumbersome and unpopular, as well as increasingly uneconomical to make. The idea of fiduciary change, based on the trustworthiness of the issuing firmness, not on the coin's intrinsic speed, launch to grab on as well. Sooner or later the "big coppers" would have deceased the way of the relic, but it was the large records of small Spanish colonial silver coins in use throughout the United States that lastly made it imperative the slighter cents had to be struck, and not necessarily of unsullied copper.

It Mint Director James R. Snowden's covet to see all unknown coins obsessed out of the channels of buying in the United States. The penny law accepted by Congress on February 21, 1857 gave him the means to do so. Besides abolishing the the cent, the law also specific that the new cents would weigh 72 grains and be poised of 88% copper and 12% nickel. Furthermore, they were redeemable for the old copper cents and half cents. Nevertheless the most important provision as far as Snowden was troubled was the one that allowed the Mint and the Treasury Department to exchange Spanish bend-reales, reales and medios at the toll of 25, 12-1/2, and 6-1/4 cents, respectively, for the new cents. All other government offices would only convince these three denominations at the rate of 20, 10, and 5 cents. With such an able profit motive, banks were very desirous of exchanging as many of the external silver coins as viable for the new "nicks," as the Flying Eagle cents were called.

When the Flying Eagle cents were first free on May 25, 1857, more than a thousand people wound around the mint edifice to convert their old Spanish coins and large coppers. Within the mint's square was erected a brief, wood structure with two banker windows. Above each porthole was a marker sense, respectively, "cents for cents" and "cents for silver." The Philadelphia Bulletin described the setting: "Every man and boy in the crowd had his state of coin with him. Some had their rouleaux of Spanish coin has done up in bits of newspaper or wrapped in handerchiefs, while others had carpet bags, baskets and other shipping contrivances, packed with coppers-'very inferior and inside,' like boarding house fare."

A minor sell for the small cents urban immediately, some people even paying a premium right on the reason of the mint house itself. Soon enough, although, the "nicks" became commonplace and. By 1859 when the Indian cent point was introduced, the Mint had struck an entire of 42,050,000 cents with the Flying Eagle plan, more than enough for somebody who wished to have numerous examples. Snowden was successful in lashing out the now-demonitized Spanish coins, and by 1859 it was estimated that some $2 million meaning of the foreign silver pieces had been recoined into U.S. subsidiary currency.

Designing by James B. Longacre, the Flying Eagle image was actually an adaptation of the purpose worn on mold silver dollars twenty existence before. The eagle cost had originally been drained by Titian Peale and sculpted by Christian Gobrecht. The setback headdress was also adapted from the copy Longacre had made for the 1854 one and three cash gold pieces.

As with several other Longacre designs, the relief was too high. The caused harms on effusive struck coins-they would not stack correctly-and on excluding than entirely formed pieces it created evils associated with die opposition, that is, each the eagle's move and tail did not beat up smarmy on the face or the garland was ill-clear on the transpose. On coins square 1857, weak reorder definition is especially prevalent.

Flying Eagle cents have proven enormously common over the decades, creation with the derive spring of 1856. It is unclear just how many 1856 cents were struck, but the best estimates drop in the extend of 800 to as many as 1,500 pieces. Both proofs and company strikes were made, as well as originals and restrikes. All are dear and have been extensively hoarded over the being, the most prominent stockpile of which came from the estate of Colonel John A. Beck, who at one time owned 531 pieces.

The 1856 Flying Eagle cent is one of the few American coins whose assess is better than its scarcity. Worth more than $2,000 in Good order, the 1856 cent has an amount and concern to collectors of U.S. currency that goes far afar the more narrow scope of "penny" collectors. Why? The only reasonable answer seems to be: because they forever have been valuable. Even in the recent 1850s, 1856 cents value a dollar or two depending on form.

Collectors of Flying Eagle cents have numerous habits to collect these coins. An absolute year and selection set is likely and consists of only five issues: 1856, 1857, 1858 Small Letters, 1858 Large Letters and 1858/7. These coins are regularly unruffled with the Indian Head cycle. Type collectors normally fuse to the 1857 or one of the two 1858 issues. More superior numismatists regularly assemble sets of the pattern money of this fabricate. Proofs are really underdone, excepting for the 1856, and doubtless less than a equal of 100 proofs subsist of the three issues from 1857 and 1858.

Grading Flying Eagles can be somewhat tricky due to the above-mentioned weakness of assail encountered on many examples. The points of the outline to show friction first are the eagle's breast and wingtips on the face and the bow on the undo. With mint assert coins that are dimly struck on the control or tail of the eagle or on the opposite circlet, it is imperative that mint gleam be present on all areas of the target.

Flying Eagle cents have been extensively counterfeited. Fakes have been made by changing digits in the date, deceitful dies have been shaped to smack phonies and ignite erosion dies have been used. When in mistrust or, when purchasing a high priced Flying Eagle cent, it is always best to have the coin's authenticity expertly verified.

It was Longacre's failure to score dies properly that led to the early demise of the string. A new construct was desirable where die opposition would not be a setback as it had been between the eagle on the frontage and the wreath on the reverse. It was this need that led Longacre to restore the small cent for 1859, replacing the rapid eagle construct with an Indian rule. The primary small cent design, however, gave collectors of 19th century U.S. coins a quick, yet challenging sequence that continues to stratagem numismatists more than a century later.

SPECIFICATIONS:

Diameter: 19 millimeters. Weight: 4.67 grams Composition: .880 copper.120 nickel Edge: Plain

BIBLIOGRAPHY: Bowers, Q. David, A Buyer's and Enthusiast's Guide to Fly Eagle and Indian Cents, Bowers & Merena Galleries, Wolfeboro, NH, 1996. Breen, Walter, Walter Breen's Encyclopedia of U.S. and Colonial Proof Coins 1722-1977, F.C.I. Press, Albertson, NY, 1977. Breen, Walter, Walter Breen's Complete Encyclopedia of U. S. And Colonial Coins, F.C.I. Press/Doubleday, New York, 1988. Carothers, Neil, Fractional Money, A History of the Small Coins and Fractional Paper Currency of the United States, John Wiley & Sons, London, 1930. Snow, Richard, Flying Eagle and Indian Cents, Eagle Eye Press, 1992. Steve, Larry R. & Flynn, Kevin J. Flying Eagle and Indian Cent Die Varieties, Nuvista Press, Jarrettsville, MD, 1995. Taxay, Don, The U.S. Mint and Coinage, Arco Publishing, New York, 1966.

Coin Information Provided Courtesy NGC.