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.

Barber Dimes 1892-1916 Coin

As early as 1879, municipal dissatisfaction with the Seated Liberty proposal was heard in Washington and Philadelphia. It was felt by many that the realm's coin designs were back-tariff, but few could have predicted how mundane a change could actually be. New mint engravers submitted designs throughout the early 1880s, but the only outcome was the production of a new nickel in 1883 intended by Chief Engraver Charles Barber. In 1891, when there was much discussion of a communal competition for new designs for the dime, district money and half cash, Barber reported to Mint Director James Kimball that there was no one in the country who was clever of helping him in preparing primary designs.

This same egoism was also found in one of the principal sculptors of the day, Augustus Saint-Gaudens, who confided to the Mint Director that there were only four men in the world competent to do such a redesigning: three were in France, and he was the fourth. Kimball insisted that very than unfilled abroad to find the best fabricate talent available, it would be viable to find able designers in America. To that end a panel of ten of the leading artists and sculptors of the day was commissioned to guess which would be the best designs for the new currency. Rather than make any decisions about a topic competition, the panel instead discarded the language of the competition as future by Mint officials on the basis that the preparation time for plaster models was too dumpy and the monetary compensation too trifling.

The Mint Director discarded the panel's suggestions and threw the competition open to the shared. The outcome of a shared competition were likewise discouraging. Of the more than 300 drawings submitted, only two were accorded a good remark by a four-associate panel appointed by Kimball (it should be imminent that one of the panel members was Charles Barber).

Kimball's successor to the mint directorship was Edward O. Leech. The latter was well awake of the evils Director Kimball had encountered annoying to get new coin designs. Leech avoided what he termed the "wretched letdown" of committees and public discussion all together by modestly directing the chief engraver to draw new designs which, of course, is what Barber hunted all along.

What Barber did was to temper the large journey worn on the Morgan dollar by adding a Liberty cap and cropping Liberty's wool shorter in back. He then sited his initial B on the truncation of the shaft. The converse uses almost the same wreath used on the Seated Liberty dime of 1860-91.

What Barber did accomplish with his new dime, while, was to draft and place into production a coin that would endure the salient requirements of complex, high-alacrity coin presses. As a Mint employee he was acutely sentient of the penury for coins to be planned so they would assault up with one drive from the coin plead. His mistrust to outsiders was, no doubt, due in part to distrust, but in all fairness he did understand the testing specifications necessary to achieve millions of coins for commercial purposes.

The first Barber dimes were struck on January 2, 1892. Over half a billion pieces were struck during the next twenty-five time. Some issues have mintages as small as 500,000 (such as 1895-O, 1901-S and 1913-S), while others were struck in quantities as large as 22 million (1907-P). At one time or another four mints struck these coins, and the mintmark of Denver (D), San Francisco (S) and New Orleans (O) can be found on the junior transpose below the loop in the bow (there being no mintmark for coins struck in Philadelphia).

Barber dimes are, for the most part, a completeable set of coins with no significant court or mintmark rarities, excluding for the legendary 1894-S. The low relief sketched confident that most coins would be sharply struck, excluding for a few issues from New Orleans (known for weak strikes over the decades). This necessary of any great effect rarities in the Barber chain stands in downright compare to the next sequence, Adolph Weinman's "Mercury" blueprint, where squishy stunning facts make that chain such a challenge.

There is one great shortage in the Barber dime string, one of the rarest coins in all U.S. numismatics-the 1894-S dime. Allegedly, 24 pieces were struck on orders from San Francisco Mint Superintendent J. Daggett. Only ten specimens can be accounted for today, which presents one of the great numismatic mysteries of the earlier hundred days: Where are the other fourteen 1894-S dimes that were reportedly struck? All the known 1894-S dimes proofs, and all were struck from the same set of dies. Much has been written on this fascinating shortage over the time, and there are many interesting stories and theories about these coins. Undoubtedly the best known untruth is that Superintendent Daggett gave three of the coins to his daughter Hallie and told her to keep them pending she was as old as he was, when they would be worth a lot of money. On her way home from the mint, she useless one of the dimes on a dish of ice cream. Today that coin is known as the "Ice Cream Specimen." The other two she kept and lastly sold in the 1950s.

Grading Barber dimes are a relatively unadorned handle. On high grade coins, signs of circulation will first seem on Liberty's cheek and in the fields. For a coin to be uncirculated, all the mint patina must be outfitted and steady over both sides.

Proofs were struck in each year excluding 1916, and the only overhang find in this series is the 1893/2 overdate. The 1894-S dime is the only number to have been counterfeited in any appreciable records. Dangerous forgeries have been made by shifting the mintmark on an 1894-O or adding one to a Philadelphia coin. Others were made in the mid-1970s in The Philippines.

The series is regularly cool by beginners in Good to Very Good grades, while more advanced collectors choose mint territory and testimony examples. Recently, however, collectors have showed a renewed profit in this and the other Barber series in XF and AU grades. Several issues of these intermediate grade coins are extremely challenging to locate. Curiously, some issues are more demanding to locate in snag-unbound XF or AU than in mint condition due to the signpost of original BU rolls.

Barber dimes are also very common with typeface collectors, especially in high grades. Because the series spans both the 19th and 20th centuries, anyone attempting to absolute a typeface set from the century will need an example.

While the Barber dime may require the artistic earn that designs before, and after displayed, this class, with its distinctive 19th century motif, has remained a favorite with collectors over the decades.

SPECIFICATIONS:

Diameter: 17.9 millimeters Weight: 2.50 grams Composition: .900 silver.100 copper Edge: Reeded Net Weight: 0.0723 ounce wholesome silver

BIBLIOGRAPHY: Breen, Walter, Walter Breen's Complete Encyclopedia of U.S. and Colonial Coins, F.C.I. Press/Doubleday, New York, 1988. Lawrence, David, The Complete Guide to Barber Dimes, DLRC Press,Virginia Beach, VA, 1991. Taxay, Don, The U.S. Mint and Coinage, Arco Publishing, New York, 1966.

Coin Information Provided Courtesy NGC.

Seated Liberty n With Motto Silver Dollars 1866-1873 Coin

As war clouds gathered and the residents raced impulsive near civil war, known sentiment became increasingly philosophical. In 1861, reflecting this communal mood, Secretary of the Treasury Salmon P. Chase detained leading a suggestion from a Pennsylvania minister that the Mint ought to incorporate recognition of the deity on our coins. In a letter to James Pollock, Director of the Mint, Chase wrote: "The hope of our people in God should be stated on our general coins. You will produce a crest to be ready lacking unnecessary falter with a motto expressing in the fewest and tersest terms promising this free recognition."

Almost immediately, Pollock struck a few patterns and forwarded them to Chase. In his accompanying letter, Pollock asserted that the first suggestion for this spiritual motto, "Our Trust is in God," had too many characters to fit comfortably. The Mint Director recommended "God Our Trust" since he felt it accepted the same idea and was more concise. He also chosen the motto to be placed on the back above the eagle, within a scroll or ribbon machine as artistic scenery.

Pattern half dollars and eagles square 1861 and 1862 have the lexis GOD OUR TRUST. From 1863 through 1865, additional patterns were made with GOD OUR TRUST, GOD AND OUR COUNTRY, and IN GOD WE TRUST.

It was IN GOD WE TRUST that Secretary Chase finally usual in 1864. It first appeared on the two-cent part in that year and then later the Shield nickel in 1866. Patterns dated 1865 with IN GOD WE TRUST were made of the twofold eagle, eagle, the eagle and the silver house, half buck and buck. Ultimately, the Mint Act of March 3, 1865 provided the authorization for use of the motto on the usual silver and gold issues.

The Seated Liberty bucked of 1866, alike to earlier issues except for the addition of the motto, was based on the creative devise by Christian Gobrecht, the past Chief Engraver of the Mint. First used on usual announce coins with the 1837 dime, it was practical to the buck in 1840.

The intend depicts Liberty seated on a boulder. She is property a post in her left hand topped with a liberty cap. With her right hand she supports the shelter of the union adorned with the word LIBERTY. Thirteen stars surround the cost. The converse skin an eagle with outstretched wings and the Union armor on its breast. The eagle is covetous an olive stem and three arrows. The legend UNITED STATES OF AMERICA appears in a semicircle around the eagle, and the denomination ONE DOL. Appears below. If a particular coin has a mintmark, it is soon under the eagle.

The conceive has athletic symbolism. With the use of the liberty cap, it declares autonomy. The union shielded is symbolic of the unity of the homeland. In the throes of the nastiest conflagration this country ever experienced, it was physical for the people of the mid-19th century to point to the deity for help and guidance. Placing a religious sentiment on something as intimate as a coin was the equivalent of a national prayer.

The motto has become very much a part of the American mind. This was evident when the double eagle and eagle were issued without the motto in 1907. It caused a burning public controversy, and Congress planned the motto restored in 1908.

Although "With Motto" buck mintages were small, the coins were well used by the public. The accounts for the small number of uncirculated pieces that live. Only about 3.6 million pieces were minted for circulation. The womanhood was made at the Philadelphia Mint with only two domain mints producing the With Motto variety.

Of the Carson City Mint issues of 1870, '71, '72 and '73, the 1870-CC is the easiest to locate. There are also three San Francisco issues. The 1870-S is a foremost scarcity, and the 1873-S, with a reported mintage of 700, is strange in any collection. That foliage the 1872-S as the only collectable With Motto buck from that mint. The Philadelphia issues of 1871 and 1872 are the dates most regularly seen and are popularly composed as mode examples.

There are 15 customary and eight resistant issues of the Seated Liberty With Motto Dollar. An absolute of 6,060 proofs were coined, and these hang over each meeting from 1866 through 1873.

When grading mint pomp pieces, footnote that this coin regularly comes with some parts of the outline softly struck and may have many "bag" letters and abrasions. Check the high points of Liberty's right leg and breast and the pelt above her eye for signs of erode. Seating Liberty dollars may be seen with a great glaze that can array from lightly spotty to black. Heavily toned specimens should be warily evaluated to affect whether evidence of circulation is buried underneath.

Numismatists usually collect this coin as a "form," because it is obstinate to find affordable examples of many dates in this chain. A crucial collection would have an example of the No Motto and With Motto types. One could also enter an exclusive, but obtainable, Gobrecht sample or circulation flow of 1836-1839. Nevertheless no subject which type, grade or date you own, any Seated Liberty cash is a numismatic treasure.

In February, 1873 Congress passed the Coinage Act later known as "The Crime of '73," which effectively demonetized silver and put the populace on a gold ensign. It would fuel intense meditate for the next district century. While the Act created a new trade dough for use in import with the Far East, it abolished the even issue silver dollar, along with the two-cent example, the silver trime and the the dime. The standard silvered dollar would not gain awaiting 1878, when it reappeared with a new design named for its initiator, Chief Engraver George T. Morgan.

SPECIFICATIONS:

Diameter: 38.1 millimeters Weight: 26.73 grams Composition: .900 silver.100 copper Edge: Reeded Net Weight: .77344 oz pure silver

BIBLIOGRAPHY: American Numismatic Association, Selections from The Numismatist: United States Paper Money, Tokens, Medals and Miscellaneous, Whitman Publishing Company, Racine, WI, 1960. Bowers, Q. David, Silver Dollars & Trade Dollars of the United States, A Complete Encyclopedia, Bowers and Merena, Wolfeboro, NH, 1993. Judd, J. Hewitt M.D., United States Pattern, Experimental and Trial Pieces, 7th Edition, A. Kosoff, Western Publishing Co., Racine, WI, 1982. White, Weimar W. The Liberty Seated Dollar 1840-1873, Sanford J. Durst, Long Island City, 1985. Yeoman, R.S., A Guide Book of United States Coins, 47th Edition, Western Publishing Co., Racine, WI, 1993.

Coin Information Provided Courtesy NGC.