The most famous issue of the one cent denomination from the 1850s is the key 1856 Flying Eagle cent that was issued in extremely limited quantities during the transition from the large copper cents that were issued from 1793 to 1857. The Mint was looking for an alternative to the bulky and expensive-to-produce cents of…
Let’s Go Flying The 1856 Flying Eagle cent was originally issued as a pattern, to demonstrate the new small-size copper-nickel design. Large numbers were struck to showcase the design to Congressmen and other VIPs, in both proof and business-strike format. Most of the proofs were from the Snow-9 dies, characterized by a center dot under…
Several hundred proof (or pattern) Flying Eagle cents were made in 1856, and delivered to congress for approval on the proposed size reduction of the denomination. When collectors became aware of these pieces, demand grew rapidly, and so the Mint struck more of the 1856-dated cents in the following few years for direct sale to…
End of content
End of content