The first Indian Head Cent

CarlWohlforth · October 21, 2003 11:44PM

I finally picked up an 1859 IHC. This is the last type of small cent I wanted for my type set. I still have the most trouble with copper (and copper-nickel). Both in terms of grading as well as in terms of getting great photos

nccoin · October 21, 2003 11:51PM

Great looking coin, must have cost a few bucks.

goose3 · October 21, 2003 11:53PM

Nice looking coin and not too shabby of a picture.

what's the grade on that?

MacCoin · October 21, 2003 11:54PM

CarlWohlforth · October 21, 2003 11:55PM

That one is in a PCGS MS 64 slab. Can anybody tell me more about my coin?

1907Quarter · October 22, 2003 12:01AM

yep, it's very nice!

tjkillian · October 22, 2003 12:08AM

Here's a little information: Being made of 12% nickel, the coin is harder than the earlier large cents, being that they were pure copper. Therefore the strike is often not as good as we'd like. Yours is a nice strike as the first feathers on top of the bust are well defined. The coins are not designated red/rd/bn as the nickel is not as reactive as copper. The mint was worried that people would not accept them as they were so much smaller than the cents that they were used to. That problem never materialized as everyone loved them and were well received.

Tom

theFonz · October 22, 2003 1:10AM

Very nice coin and the photo is very good also.

theFonz

relayer · October 22, 2003 1:26AM

I've got an 1860 PCGS MS64 and the only thing keeping it from 65 is the strike on the first feather in the headress - and yours is much sharper so I thought yours would be a 65.

Nice coin

GaCoinGuy · October 22, 2003 1:42AM

Wow, thats purty. I agree with Relayer......I, too, thought it would have been a 65.

dougwtx · October 22, 2003 1:54AM

Nice looking coin and its a 1 year type also.

Doug

EvilMCT · October 22, 2003 2:50AM

That's one beautiful coin. I wished all of my copper pics came out that bad.

Ken

CarlWohlforth · October 22, 2003 3:17AM

OK I have a better photo now. It exaggerates the marks as the coin is tilted slightly to reflect the light from them. It is also closer to the true color of the coin.

IrishMike · October 22, 2003 3:36AM

Carl that is a well struck 59 and on a good day a MS65. Some interesting factiods from Bower's book, there were 36.4 million struck for circulation and this was the only year the laurel wreath was used for the reverse. The reverse was modified from the patterns by increasing the number of leaves from 5 to 6 per cluster. This reverse was again used on the 1865 nickel three center. There continues to be a discussion on whether the portrait was an idealized image of an Indian woman or his daughter, with his contemporaries claiming it to be the former.

Lakesammman · October 22, 2003 4:00AM

Very nice looking coin - why is it a 64??

haletj · October 22, 2003 4:49AM

Very nice coin for an ms64 grade! I love these CN Indian Cents! I have a pcgs ms63 that same color and also fully struck. The obverse is totally gem but the reverse has scattered contact marks. I have an 1863 in the same grade but the strike is not nice so I'll upgrade someday. I keep looking for the other dates but I'm waiting to find ones that exactly match my fully struck 1859.

XpipedreamR · October 22, 2003 5:00AM

Great looking coin, especially for 64!

Shamika · October 22, 2003 5:38AM

Beauty!

jonesy · October 22, 2003 5:40AM

I want one!!

sinin1 · October 22, 2003 5:57AM

what I find cool about the early ihc before the 1864 and later bronze

is they are THICKER and you probably can't tell that in the slab (1.5 times as thick)

4.67 grams vs the later 3.11 grams

lordmarcovan · October 22, 2003 6:26AM

Sharp!

Best-looking one I've ever had was a raw one that should have gone MS62 or so, but it net-graded at ANACS for cleaning.

PS- now all you need is a "holey" one for your hat.

I have one on my vest. Might have an extra- I can't remember. I know I had some duplicate Flyers on there. Speakin' of hats, the Holey Gold top hat in my icon picture is now a thing of the past, though I'm keeping the coins on it- I'm changing hats, to a more comfortable and slightly more casual Indiana Jones-style fedora.

The first Indian Head Cent

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