Years
Designer
James B. Longacre
Composition
Cu-Ni (1859–1864); bronze thereafter
Diameter
19 mm
Mass
3.11 g
Thickness
1.5 mm
Edge
Plain
Mints
Philadelphia, San Francisco
Metal
Bronze
Design
Liberty in a Native-inspired feathered headdress (Longacre’s daughter is the traditional model). Reverse oak wreath and shield from 1860; 1859 used a laurel wreath without shield.
History
The Indian Head cent spanned the Civil War, Reconstruction, the Gilded Age, and the first Roosevelt. Copper-nickel issues of 1859–1864 were thick and pale; wartime hoarding forced a switch to French bronze in 1864, the same year the L-on-ribbon variety appears. The 1877 is the date every album leaves empty. San Francisco struck the series only in 1908–1909. These cents were the everyday coin of railroad America — saloons, catalogs, and penny postcards.
Key dates
Varieties
1864-P · L on ribbon
design · scarce
1873-P · Open 3 vs Closed 3
hub · scarce
53 issues