Shield Two-Cent

History

The Coinage Act of April 22, 1864 changed the composition of the cent and authorized a new two-cent denomination, and it also barred private minting of one and two cent pieces, ending the Civil War token trade. Gold and silver had been hoarded since the war began, leaving commerce dependent on fractional paper and privately issued tokens, and the government answered by expanding base-metal coinage; NGC frames the two-cent piece more narrowly as a vehicle to speed the replacement of copper-nickel cents with bronze. Chief Engraver James B. Longacre received the assignment without a competition, and patterns preceding adoption included one bearing George Washington and another carrying the motto GOD OUR TRUST, which Treasury Secretary Salmon P. Chase revised to IN GOD WE TRUST before authorization. The Mint struck the first pieces on the day the act passed, and the motto made its debut on United States coinage here, reaching the larger silver coins two years later after the Act of March 3, 1865 permitted its use on gold and silver. Demand collapsed once bronze cents circulated in quantity and after the three-cent nickel arrived in 1865 and the Shield nickel in 1866, and Congress abolished the denomination in the Coinage Act of February 12, 1873, a year in which only proofs were made.

Details

Longacre designed both sides in 1863. The bronze alloy is 95 percent copper with 5 percent tin and zinc, the standard weight 96 grains or 6.22 grams, exactly double the bronze cent, on a 23.00 mm planchet with a plain edge, and the alloy never changed during the run. Every piece came from the Philadelphia Mint and no date carries a mint mark. The 1864 issue is the high point of production, though the figure is disputed: R. W. Julian argued that an 1886 calculation error inflated the long-cited 19,847,500 by 25,000 pieces, and A Guide Book of United States Coins now uses 19,822,500. Mintage fell from 13.64 million in 1865 to under 3.2 million in 1866, below one million by 1870, then 721,250 in 1871 and just 65,000 in 1872, with roughly 1,100 proofs estimated for 1873 and about 45,600,000 pieces issued across the series.

Features

The obverse carries a shield derived from Longacre's reading of the Great Seal, with crossed arrows behind it and a laurel wreath framing the composition, IN GOD WE TRUST on a banner above and the date below. No portrait appears, an unusual choice for the period. The reverse places 2 CENTS inside a wheat wreath with UNITED STATES OF AMERICA around the rim, and E PLURIBUS UNUM is absent from the type. Longacre revised the lettering shortly after production began so the motto sat larger and more upright on the ribbon, producing the Small Motto and Large Motto varieties of 1864; on Small Motto pieces the D in GOD is noticeably smaller, the first T in TRUST sits closer to the fold of the ribbon, the laurel stem under GOD is visible, and Stack's Bowers notes doubling at WE. Other varieties collectors pursue include the 1867 doubled die obverse showing doubling in the motto, a doubled die obverse for 1869, plain and fancy 5 punches on the 1865, and the Close 3 and Open 3 dates of 1873, the Open 3 having replaced a numeral that drew complaints for resembling an 8.

Notable facts

• The 1872, at 65,000 pieces, is the key circulation date, and PCGS census figures show three coins in MS66RD, one MS66+RD and a single MS67RD, with neither of the two finest examples ever offered publicly.
• PCGS breaks out the 1873 proof mintage further, giving only 600 pieces for the Close 3, and the Closed 3 is roughly 2.5 times more available than the Open 3, with any Open 3 above PR65 extremely rare.
• An estimated 20 to 30 proof 1864 Small Motto pieces survive, and Stack's Bowers has called the issue one of the most elusive post-1858 proofs struck at the Mint.
• By 1909 the Treasury had repurchased about 17,000,000 of the 45,600,000 two-cent pieces issued, roughly 37 percent of production, and those coins were melted and recoined.
• An 1864 graded MS66 Red sold for $63,000 at the January 2018 Heritage FUN sale, the highest auction result recorded for the denomination, while a proof 1864 Small Motto in Proof 65 brown brought $54,050 from the Blue Moon Collection.
• The type carries no strike designation, so value turns on the Brown, Red Brown and Red color grades, and 1870s dates are consistently rarer than their 1860s counterparts in gem full red.