Indian Head Cents

History

The Coinage Act of February 21, 1857 retired the half cent and the large copper cent and replaced them with a smaller copper-nickel piece, the Flying Eagle cent designed by Chief Engraver James Barton Longacre. That design failed mechanically, because the eagle's head and tail fell opposite the high points of the reverse wreath, producing weak strikes and short die life, so Longacre was directed to fix it and instead abandoned the eagle entirely for a head of Liberty in a feathered headdress. The work was done inside the Mint rather than through a competition, with patterns prepared in 1858 that paired the new obverse with a plain oak wreath, an oak wreath under a wide ornamented shield, and laurel wreath treatments. Wartime hoarding then forced a metallurgical change: the Mint Act of April 22, 1864 dropped the copper-nickel alloy, which had grown costly enough that production expenses exceeded face value, in favor of bronze. The series ended in 1909, when Victor David Brenner's Lincoln cent was prepared for the centennial of Lincoln's birth, and Philadelphia struck 14,368,470 Indian cents before switching over in June.

Details

James Barton Longacre designed both sides. Cents dated 1859 through mid-1864 were struck in 88 percent copper and 12 percent nickel at 4.67 grams, or 72 grains; from 1864 through 1909 the alloy was bronze, 95 percent copper with the balance tin and zinc, at 3.11 grams, or 48 grains. Reported diameters run from 19.00 to 19.05 mm, and the edge is plain. Philadelphia struck the type in every year of the run without a mint mark, while San Francisco produced cents only in 1908 and 1909, its S placed on the reverse below the ribbon at the base of the wreath. The 1909-S is the low mintage of the series at 309,000 pieces, followed by the 1877, generally reported at 852,500 though a figure of 877,000 also appears; those are the only two regular issues below one million, while output peaked in 1907 at more than 100 million. Bronze business strikes across the type total 1,690,839,942, with proofs estimated near 98,000.

Features

The obverse carries Liberty facing left in a Native American feathered headdress, LIBERTY on the headband, UNITED STATES OF AMERICA around the periphery and the date below. Reverses divide into two types: the 1859 issue alone uses ONE CENT within a laurel wreath, making it a one-year design, and from 1860 through 1909 the wreath is oak with a Union shield above and a ribbon with arrows tied below. Late in 1864 Longacre added his initial L to the ribbon trailing from the headdress, and the letter remained on the dies for the rest of the run. The two 1864 bronze subtypes are collected separately, most of that year's bronze cents lacking the L and only a few million carrying it, and the L pieces are the far scarcer of the pair. Die variety collecting on the series follows Larry Steve and Kevin Flynn's Flying Eagle and Indian Cent Die Varieties of 1995, and at least one 1909-S with a repunched mint mark has been reported outside the standard listings.

Notable facts

• Both copper-nickel and bronze cents were struck in 1864, with roughly three times as many bronze pieces as copper-nickel.
• San Francisco's 1909 cents were struck only in January and February, and its 1908 issue, the first branch-mint cent of the type, totaled 1,115,000 pieces.
• The 1877 is treated as the series key despite its mintage exceeding that of the 1909-S, because proportionally fewer were saved.
• Value on this type turns on color rather than strike, with Brown, Red-Brown and Red designations assigned by the major grading services and full Red commanding a steep premium on early bronze and key dates.
• One population count for the 1877 showed 6,581 circulated and 1,206 Mint State examples certified by PCGS, of which just 91 were graded Red, with no MS67 recorded at either major service.
• Survival of the 1909-S has been estimated at fewer than 5,000 coins in all grades, about half of them circulated.
• The finest known 1877, a PCGS MS66+ RD nicknamed the Golden Princess, appeared in a January 1999 Americana sale and went to collector Stewart Blay.