Three Indian Head Cents - The Rare, The Beautiful And The High Grade

I am not specifically a collector of Indian Head cents, but, aside from the one I keep in my 7070 album, I now have three "special" specimens that those of you who do collect Indian Head cents (as well as everybody else, of course) might find interesting. Let me know if you have a favorite!




[Though it had only the second lowest mintage in the Indian Head series, the 1877 cent is by far the rarest issue in terms of survivors. The few thousand persons who collected cents at the time simply purchased proofs and disregarded the rarity of currency pieces. Most examples existing today are heavily worn. Needless to say, fully red examples are extremely rare, and even red-brown examples such as this one are hard to come by and are highly desirable. This date's low mintage was the result of economic depression combined with the success of the Treasury's redemption policy as almost 10 million cents were returned to the Mint in 1877 as unneeded in commerce, and 9,821,500 of these were reissued in place of newly-struck pieces. As a result, the rarity of this issue is even greater than its low mintage suggests, and some researchers have speculated that the published figure is in error. Reinforcing this notion is the fact that only two obverse dies for the date are known in combination with a single reverse. It would take a greater number of dies than this to produce 852,500 cents under the most ideal circumstances, and it may be that the published figure included some dated 1876 or even some reissued coins.]



[Proof versions of older coins are always scarcer than those intended for circulation and are highly valued by collectors. Special dies and blanks were created to give them their mirror finish and they were struck with extra care. 1879 was the start of a period of relatively high sales for proof cents that lasted until 1890, when interest finally receded. As such, proof Indian Head cents from this year are not as rare as from other years, but with a mintage of only 3,200 they are still quite rare compared to regular cents minted in that year.]




[1909 was the final year of production for the Indian Head cent as the new Lincoln Cent was being introduced the same year. Those produced at the San Francisco Mint had the lowest production of any issue in the Indian Head series due to the fact that production ceased early in the year and was not resumed before the new Lincoln Cent dies were ready in early summer. Only 309,000 were minted in total.]