351 1896 1C, BN Regular Strike Indian Cent

The origins of the Indian Head Penny can be traced back to the days when the Large-Cent coin was the only one in circulation. These coins were first minted in 1793, but faced immediate problems seeing as the US government would not allow any metals other than silver and gold to be used as legal tender. Because of this, the Large-Cents were not able to be used to pay taxes or any other government payment.

Then, by the dawn of the 1850s, fluctuations in the price of copper forced the US Mint not only to reduce the size of their pennies (Large-Cents were about the same size as a modern Half-Dollar) but to also look for compositions of metal that were not solely pure copper. Due to this need, the US Mint came up with the Flying Eagle Penny, which was produced shortly from 1856-1858. This coin differed from traditional pennies in that it was comprised of less than 90% copper. Unfortunately, these coins quickly experienced design problems and needed to be replaced. Their replacement was the Indian Head Penny, which made its first appearance on the market in 1859.

Indian Head Penny Historia

Ursprunget till Indian Head Penny kan spåras tillbaka till de dagar då Large-Cent-myntet var det enda i omlopp. Dessa mynt präglades första gången 1793, men stod inför omedelbara problem eftersom den amerikanska regeringen inte skulle tillåta andra metaller än silver och guld att användas som lagligt betalningsmedel. På grund av detta kunde inte de stora cent användas för att betala skatter eller någon annan statlig betalning.

Sedan, vid gryningen av 1850-talet, tvingade fluktuationer i priset på koppar US Mint att inte bara minska storleken på sina öre (Large-Cents var ungefär lika stora som en modern halvdollar) utan att också leta efter kompositioner av metall som inte enbart var ren koppar. På grund av detta behov kom US Mint upp med Flying Eagle Penny, som producerades kort från 1856-1858. Detta mynt skilde sig från traditionella pennies genom att det bestod av mindre än 90 % koppar. Tyvärr upplevde dessa mynt snabbt designproblem och behövde bytas ut. Deras ersättare var Indian Head Penny, som gjorde sitt första framträdande på marknaden 1859.