The year 1856 saw a lot of changes in coins in this country. We
were finally established enough that we no longer had to circulate
foreign coins to fulfill the needs of business and our industrial
might was starting to flourish. The price of copper rose to the point
that a cent was worth as much in metal as it was in buying power. So
new sizes of copper coins were begun when the “Flying Eagle
Small Cents” introduced the size of cents we still use today. In
1859 we saw a major design change to the “Indian Head Cent”
which actually isn’t a Native American but a representation of
“Liberty” wearing an Indian headdress. We also tried some
experiments in metals; copper-nickel was used from 1859-64 before we
settled on a bronze mixture we would use for more than the next 100
years.
Here we list the first part of our Small Cent series; the Flying
Eagle Type (1856-58) and the Indian Head Type (1859-1909).
Good reference works for these types of coin are “The Complete
Encyclopedia of U.S. and Colonial Coins” by Walter Breen and
“Flying Eagle and Indian Cent Die Varieties” by Larry Steve
and Kevin Flynn.
This page and all images linked to it are the property of Cybercoins. All rights reserved; images may not be used without written permission. ©1995-2007 Cybercoins.net, Inc.