Indian Head cent

Indian Head cent

United States
Value	1 cent (0.01 US dollars)
Mass	(1859–1864) 4.67 g, (1864–1909) 3.11 g
Diameter	19.05 mm (0.750 in)
Edge	Plain
Composition	(1859–1864) 88% copper, 12% nickel (1864–1909) 95% copper, 5% tin or zinc
Years of minting	1859–1909
Mint marks	S. Located below the wreath on the reverse. Philadelphia Mint specimens struck without mint mark.
Obverse
Design	Liberty with head dress.
Designer	James B. Longacre
Design date	1859
Reverse
Design	Laurel wreath
Designer	James B. Longacre
Design date	1859
Design	Oak wreath and shield
Designer	James B. Longacre
Design date	1860

The Indian Head cent, also known as an Indian Head penny, was a one-cent coin ($0.01) produced by the United States Bureau of the Mint from 1859 to 1909. It was designed by James Barton Longacre, the Chief Engraver at the Philadelphia Mint.

From 1793 to 1857, the cent was a copper coin about the size of a half dollar. As rising copper prices made it impractical to keep striking them, in 1857 the Mint reduced the size of the cent, issuing a new design, the Flying Eagle cent. The new pieces were identical in diameter to modern cents, though somewhat thicker and made of copper-nickel. The design caused production difficulties, and the Mint soon looked to replace the coin. Mint Director James Ross Snowden selected the Indian Head design, and chose a laurel wreath for the reverse that was replaced in 1860 by an oak wreath with a shield. Cents were hoarded during the economic chaos of the American Civil War, when the metal nickel was in short supply. As Mint officials saw that privately issued bronze tokens were circulating, they induced Congress to pass the Coinage Act of 1864, authorizing a slimmer cent of bronze alloy.

In the postwar period, the cent became very popular and was struck in large numbers in most years. An exception was 1877, when a poor economy and little demand for cents created one of the rarest dates in the series. With the advent of coin-operated machines in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, even more cents were produced, reaching 100 million for the first time in 1907. In 1909, the Indian Head cent was replaced by the Lincoln cent, designed by Victor D. Brenner.

The half-dollar-sized large cent was struck from 1793 to 1857, authorized by the Mint Act of 1792 which defined the "cent" as 1/100 dollar. That coin was intended to contain close to a cent's worth of copper, as people then expected that coins contain close to their face values in metal. Nevertheless, because of the constitutional clause making only gold and silver legal tender, the government would not accept copper cents for taxes or other payments. By the early 1850s, fluctuations in the price of copper led the Mint of the United States (hereafter Mint) to seek alternatives, including reducing the size of the cent and experimenting with compositions other than pure copper. The result was the Flying Eagle cent, the same diameter as the later Lincoln cent but somewhat thicker and heavier, composed of 88% copper and 12% nickel. The Flying Eagle cent was struck in limited numbers as a pattern coin in 1856, then for circulation in 1857 and 1858.

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