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First Small Cent Special
for Many Reasons
from
NUMISMATIC NEWS February 4,2003
Written by Paul
M. Green For
the collector today a Flying Eagle cent collection might seem a bit
short on total number of coins, but what it lacks in total numbers
it makes up in terms of historical value. Whether considered an addition
to an Indian Head cent collection, which is how Flying Eagle cents
have frequently been collected, or as a series by themselves, Flying
Eagle cents are well addition to anyone's collection.
The Flying Eagle cent was an idea which was a long
time in moving from idea to reality. It was a case where officials were simply
unsure what to do about a couple problems they were facing with the large cent
and half cent.
The first problem was an economic one. The metal
value of the large cent had become roughly equal to its face value. At the time
of the first large cent in 1793, memories of Continental Currency were still
fresh in many minds, a fiasco that resulted i some people losing perhaps 90 percent
or more of the face value of the notes. Officials probably correctly assumed
that any new issues from the government had better be close to their face value
in intrinsic worth.
The problem was that at a certain point the metal
becomes more valuable than the face value and at an even lower point the government
actually would lose money making large copper coins, when you consider shipping
and labor among other things. Giving the public coins they would trust was one
thing but losing money was another, and by the late1840s that was a potential
problem.
The other problem with the old large cents was that they were not popular with
the public. Merchants did not like
them. Average citizens did not like carting them around. They were too heavy,
and they became dirty quickly. As for half cents, they had a limited role in
commerce by the mild-1800s, and the general belief was that they had little
future.
The first idea was for a ring cent, somewhat like
Chinese cash with a central hole. Interesting patterns were made, but the notion
that they would be a technical problem ended that line of thinking. Also suggested
was German silver, which was a combination of copper, nickel and zinc. There
had even been patterns back in the 1830s of a cent and three-cent pieces, and
additional patterns Were tried in 1853. Others simply thought that a reduction
in size of the cent would be adequate.
It was an interesting period. Almost every official
seemed to have some opinion as to the right alloy to use, and that resulted in
a number of patterns. One pattern apparently suggested by Mint Director Janus
Ross Snowden used an eagle flying, which was something of a composite of the
reverse of the Gobrecht dollar of 1836-1839 and a half dollar pattern by William
Kneass from 1838. At least the design was making some progress.
Finally, a fellow by the name of James Booth, who
was the Mint's melter and refiner, came up with a metal mixture of 12 percent
nickel, 88 percent copper, which he felt was, the sort of alloy they had been
seeking. He also was brave enough to suggest it was not the intrinsic metal value
which would make the new cents circulate, but rather the backing of the government.
Counterfeiting was an issue at the time, but there too the coins seemed unlikely
to be targets.
It was a combination of advantages no one could resist
and Mint Director Snowden convinced the Treasury secretary, who also apparently
briefed President Franklin Pierce.
Chief Engraver James B. Longacre was ordered to
prepare pattern dies for a coin, and he created a Flying Eagle design much closer
to that of the Gobrecht dollar. Longacre was something of a champion of using
designs more than once, and for the reverse he basically used the wreath on the
$3 gold piece. Researchers are still unsure when the first Flying Eagle cent
patterns were struck. In very late 1856 or early 1857, or perhaps both, several
hundred 1856 Flying Eagle cents, still technically patterns, were struck.
The
Mint Director had an idea what to do with the small supply of 1856 Flying Eagle
cents. The idea was to pass them around official Washington to gain support for
authorizing the new cents - something similar to what was done in 1974 when aluminum
cents were passed out to officials for inspection, excepting that the aluminum
cents were supposed to be returned. In 1856 the samples were simply given away,
no request made that they be returned.
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