1860 Indian Head Penny: First Year Shield Appears On Reverse: Pointed And Broad Bust Varieties

by Andrew Spaeth on Sunday, November 21st, 2010 | No Comments

Overview Of The 1860 Indian Head Penny

The 1860 Indian Head penny was the first in the issue to have the Federal Shield at the top of the wreath on the reverse. The 1860 Indian Head penny was also unique in the fact that it had 2 varieties within the same year, a feature that would recur more than once throughout the 50 year period that Indian Head Pennies were minted. The 1860 Indian Head Penny was minted in both a Pointed Bust and Broad Bust variety. The 1860 Indian head penny with the pointed bust is the scarcer of the 2 varieties. A total of 20,566,000 coins were minted for the year.

1860 Indian Head penny, Pointed Bust Variety

The Pointed Bust variety of the 1860 Indian Head penny was produced when as many as 10 undated dies from the 1859 Indian Head penny run of production were punched with the 1860 date and paired with the new reverse dies with the oak wreath and shield design. It is estimated that out of the total mintage for the 1860 Indian Head penny, only 1,000,000 or 1/20th of the run was the pointed bust variety.

These were not recognized as a separate design until the late 80's, so they were not saved prior to that for any reason other than the fact that they were the first year to have the oak wreath and shield reverse. They have become better known as more and more were cherry picked from dealer inventory and carry a small premium above that of a Broad Bust 1860 Indian Head penny. Most examples will be well circulated, and examples at the optimal collecting grade of EX-40 or better are hard to locate.

Pointed Bust 1860 Indian Head Penny Value:

G-4 $20.00 VG-8 30.00 F-12 $42.00 VF-20 $60.00 XF-40 $100 AU-50 $160 MS-60 $300 MS-65 $6000

Broad Bust 1860 Indian Head Penny

The broad bust 1860 Indian head penny represents the bulk of the mintage for this year, with an estimation of 19,566,000 of the 20,566,000 being the broad bust variety. These coins saw only 2 years circulation before coin hoarding began in earnest during the Civil War. After the war many were melted in the 1870's and those that remain are either well worn coins that were never recalled from circulation or are very high grade coins that were never returned to circulation after the Civil War coin crisis. Low grade examples are plentiful and cukk or damaged coins should be avoided like the plague. there are too many nice choices available to settle for these type of coins.