Collecting The 1859 Indian Head Penny|1859 Indian Head Cent: First Year Of The Series

by Andrew Spaeth on Monday, March 29th, 2010 | No Comments

The 1859 Indian Head Penny replaced the Flying Eagle Penny after a run of only 3 years.

Director of the US Mint James Snowden felt that the design of the Flying Eagle Penny caused it to strike poorly and wanted a replacement. The Indian Head design was found to strike better, with none of the metal flow problems that were experienced with the flying eagle design.

The 1859 Indian Head Penny was designed by mint engraver James Longacre and has the same 88% copper 12% nickel composition as the Flying Eagle Penny. But the 1859 Indian Head Penny is different than the rest of the series. This is the only date in the Indian Head Penny series not to have the shield on the reverse. It also has a laurel wreath on the reverse, and is the only date not to have the oak wreath with arrows.

The US Mint struck 36,400,000 examples of the 1859 Indian Head Penny, the most ever for a small cent (or any other coin) up till that point. In the copper nickel examples of the Indian head penny, only the 1863 year has a higher mintage. The copper nickel coins are also much thicker than the bronze examples that began in 1864.

The 1859 Indian Head Penny saw only 3 years of circulation before being hoarded with other coinage due to the Civil War.

Many were withdrawn from circulation and melted in the 1870s. Those remaining are plentiful in grades of Very Fine and lower, and in Mint State as well, but carry a premium because of their popularity as a first year of issue.