|
|
First
Small Cent Special for Many Reasons(Con't)
In
fact, the 1856 Flying Eagle cent pattern giveaway worked, as on Feb.
21, 1857, a bill authorizing the new cents became law. With that, production
could begin on a new era of smaller cents, and mintage of the small
cents was begun in April.
One immediate change, other than size and composition,
was that the new cents were to be made from planchets prepared by the Mint. Previously,
planchets had been purchased from outside sources, most recently from a firm
by the name of Crocker Brothers. Now, however, the Mint would be responsible
for the planchets, and their ability was put to an immediate test.
It was decided to stockpile the new cents until
May 25. That turned out to be a wise decision, but even then supplies were not
really adequate. Under the terms of the law authorizing the new cents, the public
was allowed to exchange old coppers as well as Spanish or Mexican silver, as
at the time there was still a significant amount of foreign silver in circulation.
Few could have imagined how popular the idea of trading old coppers and foreign
silver would prove to be. Snowden phrased it well, writing the Treasury secretary
regarding the first day of the new cent: "The demand for them is enormous." On
that day nearly three million of the new cents were released.
There were assorted humorous descriptions of the
scene that day as people traded in their old copper or silver coins for bags
of $5 of the new cents. So popular were the new cents that some at the end of
the long lines were willing to pay a premium. As the Philadelphia Bulletin reported, "Those
who were served rushed into the streets with their money bags, and many of them
were immediately surrounded by an outside crowd, who were willing to buy out
in small lots at an advance of thirty to a hundred per cent, and some of the
outside purchasers even huckstered out the coin again in smaller lots at still
heavier
advance."
The Philadelphia Bulletin went on to observe, "We
doubt much whether, in the history of the Mint, there was ever so great a rush
inside the building, or so animated a scene outside of it. It was, in effect
the funeral of the old coppers and of ancient Spanish coins."
Clearly the dislike of the public for the old coppers
and Spanish and Mexican silver far outweighed any concern over whether the new
cents had a face value that was nearly equal to their metal value.
At least some of the 1856 pattern strikes are believed
to have been released at some point during the frenzy for the new cent. There
was a solid base of coin collectors around Philadelphia back in 1857, and the
appearance of some 1856 Flying Eagle cents caused a good deal of interest among
them - a mad search was on for the rare date. We do not know how many were produced
in.the initial group made from late 1856 to early 1857, but the best guess remains
in the neighborhood of 800.
The estimates are complicated by the fact that
those released had not been proofs, but with requests for 1856 cents appearing
with regularity it appears that Snowden ordered a significant number of proofs
to be struck, which were then either sold or traded to collectors for other items
to improve the Mint's collection of coins and medals. The idea of a small cent
rarity encouraged many new collectors at the time. In a sense, the 1856 Flying
Eagle cent was not unlike the 1909-S VDB Lincoln cent or 1950-D Jefferson nickel
of later generations. It was a rare coin worth a premiurn price, but not so rare
that it was impossible to obtain. That is a perfect combination for encouraging
interest.
The
actual mintage of the 1856 Flying Eagle cent is unknown. There were hundreds
of business strikes, which as mentioned were really patterns, but some of their
number were released into circulation while many others were presented to officials.
Then there are the proofs, which also appear to be in the hundreds, some estimates
going as high as 1,000 pieces. The estimates of the combined totals have ranged
from perhaps as low as 1,400 to as many as 3,500 pieces.
The 1856 Flying Eagle cent remains popular today,
pattern or not. Based on a current G-4 price of $5,500, up $1,500 since 1998,
collectors have accepted it as a date to be included in their collections. This
price in the lowest collectible grade is far more than would be expected of a
coin viewed strictly as a pattern, especially a pattern with a mintage of more
than 1,000 pieces. The fact that the 1856 Flying Eagle was the first small-size
cent ever to be released gives it a certain historical importance which helps
its price and its popularity.
Click here to continue |
Webstore