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History of Indian Head Cent
In 1837, the U.S. Mint was spending $1.06 to produce 100
large cents and by the mid-1850s it was apparent to Mint officials that the
large copper cents struck since 1793 were too cumbersome and unpopular. The
mint director at the time, John R. Snowden, had a desire to remove all foreign
coins from commerce in the US. During this time, it was not uncommon for
foreign coins to be used for trade as people valued the metal content of the
coin to determine its worth, but the idea of coins being issued with a face
value regardless of metal content was beginning to catch on.
The first “small cent” was produced in 1956 and authorized
by Snowden but not the US congress. It was a pattern cent and was made to show
the congress what it would look like. The design was done by James B. Longacre.
The Flying Eagle motif was an adaptation of the Christian Gobrecht/Titian Peale
design used on pattern dollars twenty years before. The reverse wreath was
similarly adapted from the model Longacre had made for the 1854 one and three
dollar gold pieces. A few proof pieces were also produced for sale to
collectors. It is believed only about 1500-2500 of these were produced.
Although never released for circulation, and not technically an official US
coin, a few probably made there way into general circulation in later years.
The coinage law passed by Congress on February 21, 1857
gave Snowden the means to accomplish several things. In addition to abolishing
the half cent, the law also specified that the new cent would weigh 72 grains
and be composed of 88% copper and 12% nickel. But the most important provision
as far as Snowden was concerned was the one that required the Mint and the
Treasury Department to convert Spanish double-reales, reales and medios at the
rate of 25, 12-1/2, and 6-1/4 cents, respectively. All other government offices
would only convert these three denominations at the rate of 20, 10, and 5 cents.
With such a powerful profit motive, banks were very desirous of exchanging as
many of the foreign silver coins as possible for the new Flying Eagle cents.
When the Flying Eagle cents were first released on May 25, 1857, more than a
thousand people wound around the mint building to convert their old Spanish
coins. A secondary market developed immediately, some people even paying a
premium right on the grounds of the mint building itself. Soon enough, though,
the Flying Eagle cent became commonplace, and by 1859 when the Indian cent
design was introduced, the Mint had struck a total of 42,050,000 cents with the
Flying Eagle design, more than enough for anyone who wished to have multiple
examples. Snowden was successful in driving out the now-demonitized Spanish
coins, and by 1859 it was estimated that some $2 million worth of the foreign
silver pieces had been recoined into U.S. subsidiary coinage.
As with other Longacre designs, the relief was too high.
This caused problems on fully struck coins, they would not stack properly, and
on less than perfectly produced pieces it created problems associated with die
opposition, that is, either the eagle's head and tail did not strike up fully on
the obverse or the wreath was ill-defined on the reverse. On coins dated 1857,
weak reverse definition is especially prevalent.
Difficulty in modifying the Flying Eagle cent design to
correct the problem of short die life and poor strikeability led Chief Engraver
James Longacre to abandon the eagle motif in favor of his new Indian Head design
in 1859.
Even with these changes, there were still problems with
high relief of the reverse design. The design was again modified to an oak
wreath with a shield in the 12 o’clock position, and in 1860 the new design made
its appearance.
Designed
by: James B. Longacre after Gobrecht
Issue Dates: 1857-1858 plus 1856 patterns
Composition: Copper-nickel, 88% copper, 12% nickel
Diameter: 19 mm
Weight: 72 grains
Edge: Plain
Business strike mintage: 42,050,000
Proof mintage: Fewer than 500 1857-1858, fewer than 2,500 1856
Designed
by: James B. Longacre
Issue Dates: 1859
Composition: Copper-nickel, 88% copper, 12% nickel
Diameter: 19 mm
Weight: 72 grains
Edge: Plain
Business strike mintage: 36,400,000
Proof mintage: 800 (estimated)
Designed
by: James B. Longacre
Issue Dates: 1860-1864
Composition: Copper-nickel, 88% copper, 12% nickel
Diameter: 19 mm
Weight: 72 grains
Edge: Plain
Business strike mintage: 122,321,000
Proof mintage: Fewer than 2,500
Designed
by: James B. Longacre
Issue Dates: 1864-1909
Composition: 95% copper, 5% tin and zinc
Diameter: 19 mm
Weight: 48 grains
Edge: Plain
Business strike mintage: 1,690,839,942
Proof mintage: Fewer than 100,000
Mintage of US
Indian Head Cents
Date Mint Pop
1859 36,400,000
1860 20,566,000
1861 10,100,000
1862 28,075,000
1863 49,840,000
1864 copper 13,740,000
1864 bronze 39,233,714
1864 L -
1865 35,429,286
1866 9,826,500
1867 9,821,000
1868 10,266,500
1869/9 -
1869 6,420,000
1870 5,275,000
1871 3,929,500
1872 4,042,000
1873 11,676,500
1874 14,187,500
1875 13,528,000
1876 7,944,000
1877 852,500
1878 5,799,850
1879 16,231,200
1880 38,964,955
1881 39,211,575
1882 38,581,100
1883 45,589,109
1884 23,261,742
1885 11,765,384
1886 17,654,290
1887 45,226,483
1888 37,494,414
1889 48,869,361
1890 57,182,854
1891 47,072,350
1892 37,649,832
1893 46,642,195
1894 16,752,132
1895 38,343,636
1896 39,057,293
1897 50,466,330
1898 49,823,079
1899 53,600,031
1900 66,833,794
1901 79,611,143
1902 87,376,722
1903 85,094,493
1904 61,328,015
1905 80,719,163
1906 96,022,255
1907 108,138,618
1908 32,327,987
1908 S 1,115,000
1909 14,370,645
1909 S 309,000
Total Mintage 1,849,639,030
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