Production of Flying Eagle, Indian Cents Revolutionary
The story of one of the most popular of U.S. coins, the Indian Head cent, was first tackled in the pages of Coins magazine in an article in the March 1965 issue by Robert Obojski.
“The Indian head cent ranked as one of the favorite coins among American collectors for many years, and interest in this long series continues to increase,” Obojski wrote. “Not many years ago, an Indian head cent could occasionally be found in change. Though this very seldom occurs now, many varieties of Indian heads are still within the reach of the collector of modest means.
“The introduction of the Flying Eagle cent and the Indian head in the late 1850’s marked the beginning of a new era in United States coinage. Minting of the halfcent was stopped altogether in 1857. “By 1857, the cost of making and distributing copper coins had risen markedly. Mint Director James R. Snowden reported that they ‘barely paid expenses.’ Both large cents and half-cents had become unpopular; in fact, they circulated only on a limited basis outside of the larger cities. “In order to cut minting costs, the small Eagle cent was introduced in 1857. The Act of February 21, 1857 provided for the coinage of the small cent, and made uncurrent the coins of other countries, particularly the Spanish and Mexican dollars. The new cent weighed 72 grains. “The copper-nickel Flying Eagle cents were probably discontinued after having been in use for only two years since they were often confused with silver coins. The metallic composition gave them a white or silver-like color.”
There were also those who weren’t too fond of the eagle depicted on that coin’s obverse. Writing of the advent of the copper-nickel Indian Head cent, the Jan. 3, 1859, issue of The Evening Post (N.Y.) noted:
“We have received from Adams & Co. a specimen of the new cent which has just been struck at the mint in Philadelphia. It is of the same size, and composed of the same metal as the old cent [Flying Eagle], but it is much prettier in its device. The reverse, like the old cent, has a wreath surrounding the legend ‘One cent,’ but the obverse has fortunately discarded the hideous and screeching bird of prey with which the old cent was disfigured, and its place has the head of an Indian woman with a coronal of feathers, and in the band the noble word LIBERTY. Around the sides are the words ‘The United States of America,’ and the date, 1859.”
Of the new Indian Head cents and its designer, Obojski wrote, “The small cent was redesigned in 1859 by James B. Longacre, chief engraver at the U.S. Mint, the result being the famous Indian head design which was to remain in circulation for the next 50 years. In his 25 years as chief engraver, Longacre probably had a hand in designing and engraving as many coins as anyone in mint history. He worked on the braided hair type large cents, the gold dollar, $3 gold piece and the double eagle, as well as others. “Longacre also designed the Flying Eagle Cent, adapting the central design from Christian Gobrecht’s pattern dollar reverses of 1836-39.
“James B. Longacre was born August 11, 1794 in Delaware County, Pennsylvania. He served an apprenticeship as a line engraver with George Murray of Philadelphia and did some first class plate-work before he completed his apprenticeship in 1819. He was one of the originators of the ‘National Portrait Gallery of Distinguished Americans,’ the first volume of which appeared in 1834. Longacre drew from life and engraved many of the portraits entire. “He died in office, on January 1, 1869. During his term Longacre was variously assisted by such noted engravers as P.F. Cross, William Barber, Anthony C. Paquet, and William H. Key.
“The so-called Indian head is actually a head of Liberty with feather headdress, ‘symbolic of America,’ the features derived not from any single individual but rather from one of the Greco-Roman statues of Venus, as were Longacre’s heads on the gold dollar and $3 gold pieces, which bear a rather similar headdress. “This design was put on the cent patterns in November 1858, and with Treasury Department approval was adopted for regular issue the following January 1 without any action of Congress. Unsigned then, the Indian cent bore Longacre’s initial ‘L’ on the issues of 1864 to 1909, when it was supplanted by the first of
a series of Presidential commemorative designs on our coins – Brenner’s portrait bust of Lincoln ...
“All Indian head cents from 1859 to 1864 were struck in copper-nickel. In 1864 the metal was changed to bronze. Actually, 1864 could be called a transitional year since both types were produced, 13,740,000 in copper-nickel and nearly 40,000,000 in bronze. “Indian head cents have greatly interested collectors because of the plethora of varieties, both major and minor. In fact, design changes were made in the coin’s first year of life. Reverse of the 1859 pieces represented a laurel wreath. In the following year the reverse was modified to display an oak wreath with a small shield at the top. No change was made in the obverse. “Though these early Indian cents were produced from the copper-nickel alloy, they were darker in color than the Flying Eagles.
“The bronze Indians, which were minted for the next 45 years, were produced from an alloy containing 95 per cent copper and five per cent tin and zinc. Weight was reduced to 48 grains, resulting in a thinner coin than the copper-nickel cents. The design remained unchanged.
“The change was made to bronze [in 1864] because by 1863 the price of nickel had soared to prohibitive levels. American nickel sources in the [1860s] were negligible, and the Mint’s supply was almost wholly European. Payment was demanded in gold and this had become increasingly difficult since the specie payment suspension during the war had driven up the exchange rates and decreased the amount of gold deposits in the Mint.
“The Mint’s nickel stockpile was small and decreasing rapidly, threatening a complete halt in cent production. Further, there had from the outset been considerable trouble with die breakage on the hard nickel planchets. Worse, still, not only did the copper-nickel cents fail to satisfy demands throughout the country, in spite of the very large production, but there also came in 1863 a flood of copper tokens of small-cent size though completely without legal authority or value. These were the ‘copperheads’ or Civil War Tokens. They circulated in vast quantities – over 300 varieties had already been brought to Mint Director Pollock’s attention.” Thus, Congress approved the change to bronze, which not everyone was thrilled with, particularly then former Mint Director Snowden, who thought the new composition would lead to counterfeiting. “It is now proposed to make the material of the cent a mixture called bronze, composed of ninety-five per cent. copper, and five per cent. tin and zinc, and to weigh forty-eight grains,” Snowden wrote in a letter to a congressman reprinted in the April 27, 1864 issue of the Philadelphia newspaper, The Daily Age. “This mixture will not cost more than pure copper. The price of copper is more frequently below than above forty cents, but, putting it at that rate, the intrinsic value of the cent would be about two mills, or one-fifth of a cent. On a coinage of $400,000 there would be a profit to the Government of $320,000 on the materials used. Such an enormous profit would induce all manner of imitations, and stimulate the dishonest to flood the country with counterfeits. This bronze cent would be very little better than copper in color and smell; and we all remember how offensive the former cent was in those respects.” Obojski continued: “For the first five years of the Indian cent issue, Longacre’s initial did not appear on any of the specimens. Nearly 40 million unsigned cents were coined in 1864 before a small quantity of them were released late in the year with the engraver’s ‘L’ on them, a signature that had been inscribed on all the other coins he designed. The exact quantity of 1864 L’s is unknown, but this is one of the real ‘keys’ in the Indian cent series, with an uncirculated specimen cataloguing for well over two hundred dollars. [Today it lists at $600 in MS-60.] “The 1864 and all subsequent issues of the Indians have the L on the ribbon hanging from Liberty’s bonnet. “The issuance of the Flying Eagle cents and Indian heads actually revolutionized coinage in the United States since this was the first time that coins of any denomination were struck in significant quantities in this country.
“Over 42 million Flying Eagles were turned out in two years. Large cent production never approached a figure like this – just under 10 million pieces were produced in the record year, 1851, for them.
“Approximately two billion Indian heads were minted during their 50-year life, an average of 40 million per year, with the figures being much larger for the last 10 or 15 years they were struck. High water mark for the Indians came in 1907 when over 108 million were produced. New methods of mass producing coins were developed by the U.S. Mint in striking the Indian heads.
“Not only were coin production records broken with the Indian heads, but these cents were in no small part responsible for the growth in popularity of coin collecting in the United States. Indian head cents without question constitute one of the greatest issues of coins by any country. “Only two major varieties of Indian cents went below the million mark in mintage figures, the 1877 with 852,500 and the 1909- S with 309,000. Consequently, these two bring the highest prices – the 1877 catalogues for nearly $700 in uncirculated condition [today $4,300 in MS-60], and the 1909- S catalogues at $300 [$1,075 in MS-60] ...
“Key date Indian head cents have long been regarded as ‘blue chip’ items by numismatists, and in recent years prices have increased markedly. It’s still possible to form a complete collection of them, but this is getting to be an expensive proposition.”