Indian Head (And Flying Eagle) Small Cents

Thanks for the input. You mentioned the elusive 1856 Flying Eagle. I looked up the value and almost had a heart attack. Thankfully, the 1856 does not have a hole in the Dansco album, so scratch the Flying Eagle 1856 off the list.

Here are what I'm finding to be key dates/semi-key dates and varieties that might be harder to find: 1859, 1864 "L" bronze, 1869 over 69, 1876, 1877 (low mintage and classic key date), 1908-S and 1909-S (maybe add 1886 type 1 and type 2). I've also heard the 1869, 1870, 1871, and 1873 can be a bit pricey.

So, maybe a dozen or so challenging coins in the set. I don't see anything too scary (excluding the FE 1856 of course). Sounds similar to the Lincoln cents in a way.

1909 S is about $250, 1877 is about $300, and 1908 S is around $40.

I don't think it is that expensive of a set to complete.

It all depends on what grade do you want in your Dansco .
You will probably not break the bank if you go with AG to VG. Anything after that will wind up costing you a pretty
penny :)

Actually, I like your 'ugly' coin better than the 'bad' one..

Agree. He must be talking about AGs or problem coins. My advice: spend a little more and get a nice pleasing brown example of each date - you'll be glad someday. Don't waste your time on hole-fillers.

Go for solid good examples at least. More sense of accomplishment completing a nice looking set than a ragged set.

I put together a complete set of the Flying Eagle and Indian cents when I was a kid in the 1960s. I tried to complete the set in Fine or better, and succeeded except for a couple dates.

Although the 1877 and 1909-S get most of the publicity, there are a lot of tough coins in the set. The 1872 is almost as tough as the 1877, and the 1869, 1870 and 1871 are just little bit easier. The 1869 over 9 used to be called an over date. Now it isn't, and for that reason I don't think that it's an essential part of the set.

The 1864-L is a bit overrated in my opinion. I cherry picked a couple of them when I was kid. Still it's got a reputation so it's a bit expensive. Make sure you buy one with "L" visible. That "pointed bust stuff" doesn't cut it in my opinion.

The heart of the set are the coins from 1866 to 1878. The mintages were lower in those years; the quality of the bronze that was used in those coins was not as good as it would be in later years; and not a lot of them were saved by collectors in the attractive circulated grades.

One sleeper date is the 1886. I never could get one in any better than VG when I was kid. There are two types if you check your Red Book. The difference has to do with the placement of the feathers in the headdress. The Type II is tough as nails in high grade, and many of them were not well struck. When I was kid, the 1885 was supposed to be the "key date" in the 1880s, but then collectors and dealers learned that it wasn't.

The 1908-S is available for a price. It's not overly scarce, but it's not cheap either. It is historically significant because it was the first base metal U.S. coin to be struck at a branch mint.

Overall the Indian cent set is a lot of fun to collect. It covers the antebellum, Civil War and reconstruction eras, plus the gay nineties and early 1900s. The good thing about is that there are not a lot of mint marks to collect. Still the set is no pushover, especially if you want to collect coins without damage that are attractive for the grade. Even a set in Good can have its charms if the coins are not damaged or pitted.