Walter Breen
Other proportions of copper to nickel were being tried out through 1855, 8-piece sets of experimental cents being made comprising copper, several types of bronze, argentan, and copper-nickel alloys.
Though Joseph Wharton's name was not being mentioned in mint correspondence or congressional papers, this man was nevertheless the prime mover behind all these experiments. Col. James Ross Snowden, then Director of the Mint, was one of at least a half dozen highly placed officials who were neighbors and schoolmates of Wharton, from the Delaware Water Gap area of Pennsylvania. All knew of his monopoly and of his numerous pamphlets advocating nickel for worldwide coinage.
Snowden's historic letter of July 11,1856 to Treasury Secretary Guthrie, quoted in full by Taxay (U.S. Mint and Coinage, 235-7), recommended cent coinage at 72 grains weight in an alloy to consist of 88% copper, 12% nickel. This letter mentioned that Treasury Agent Colmesnil was bringing to the Treasury Department some 50 half-cents struck on blanks of this new metal, to show the physical properties. Cents so made would yield an 8% seignorage (face value less the sum of bullion value and manufacturing costs), high enough to benefit government but not high enough to encourage counterfeiting.
And on the following December 4, Snowden again wrote Guthrie suggesting that, with official approval, the Director should furnish samples of the proposed new cent to every senator and congressman -with, presumably, additional samples for treasury officials. These are the original 1856 Flying Eagle cents.
The Flying Eagle device is a mechanical reduction of that made by Gobrecht for the 1836 silver dollars.
The reverse wreath, commonly miscalled tobacco, contains corn, cotton, maple and possibly tobacco; it was similarly derived from the model Longacre had made for the 1854 three-dollar pieces. As usual with Longacre's earlier original productions, relief details were too high, entailing difficulties in stacking finished coins, and far greater difficulties in getting the design to strike up properly by a single blow of the press.
Most collectors - especially less experienced ones -are concerned about the genuineness of alleged 1856 Flying Eagle cents offered them, owing to alterations from 1858 (rarely 1857). In actuality, these should be no source of trouble. All digits are totally different in 1856 from later years; the 1857 and 1858 dates are much wider spaced, being constant in each year (because a four-digit logotype or gang-punch was used, as it had been since 1840 on other denominations). Most collectors use the shape of the 5 as a distinguishing feature; on the 1856 the slanting stroke points into the knob, whereas on the 1858 the slanting stroke points into field to left of the knob, which knob itself is differently shaped. A few alterations of 1858's to 1856 exist in which the 5 has also been tampered with, but even slight familiarity with the appearance of the genuine (as in theGuidebook illustration, regrettably dropped in recent years), will enable your kid brother to spot the phony at a glance. Struck counterfeits are known with dates crudely imitating the genuine.
We are now in a position to tell approximately how many were made and where they went. Unfounded rumors have circulated since the 1860's about the mintage: supposedly from "a few hundred" to "nearly 2000" were made, the figures 1,000 and 1,500 recurring; and from 300 to "nearly 1,000" are, or were, said to survive in hoards. And so forth. The truth is rather different, though we still have only approximations.
Letters surviving in the National Archives indicate that of the original mintage, the following were officially dispersed:
Treasury Secretary Guthrie - 2 President Franklin Pierce - 4
Representative S. D. Campbell - 200 (sent Feb. 2, 1857)
Treasury Secretary Guthrie (again) - 100 (Feb. 4, 1857)
The Senate - 62
The House of Representatives - 264 or more The Mint Cabinet Collection – 2
The above 634+ are naturally exclusive of these retained by Snowden and other mint officials, those sent unofficially to friends, those given to visiting dignitaries, those obtained from the Chief Coiner by Longacrefor gifts to friends, fellow artists, and political patrons. They also exclude several hundred held in stock in the Mint for later distribution to coin collectors, or to trade to them for Washington medals for the Mint Cabinet Collection. As the 1856 proof sets had been distributed in January-February, their recipients would have had to add the nickel cents later on, which did happen (see 1856, above). The full number is still unknown, but a fair estimate might be 800 originals, many of which found their way into circulation or were kept as pocket pieces. The problem is complicated because originals and restrikes have not been distinguishable until recent years; the number of restrikes is greatly in excess of originals, so much so that an estimate of 2000 would be on the low side, even if we assume that most of the restrikes survived in top grades while most of the originals were spent. One variety of restrike alone forms the vast majority of surviving 1856 nickel cents.
An unknown number of these were said to have been issued attached to pasteboard cards bearing a description of "The New Nickel Cent," the "attachment" presumably countersunk recesses as with the special cases for proof sets. I have not seen any of these descriptive cards; the last person to describe one was the late Paul Volk, Boston coin dealer, who claimed (1948) to have handled several.
Until 1974 no survey of the present population of 1856 nickel cents (or "nickels," as they were then called)was possible. Many specimens even now remain in bank vaults and estates; but the main reason was that the hoard of 531 specimens accumulated before World War I by Col. John A. Beck of Pittsburgh remained inaccessible until fall 1974. Beck was a hoarder of the Virgil Brand or Col. Green persuasion. The full extent of his holdings has not yet been published as of this writing, despite the sale in January 1975 by "Quality Sales" (Cohen-Kreisberg) of a sizable fraction of them, which did not include many of his cents. Among manuscripts preserved in ANS is an inventory by George H. Clapp (1931) verifying examination of over 100 $50 "slugs" and 5311856 Flying Eagle cents.
Examination of part of the Beck hoard (courtesy of Jerry Cohen and Abner Kreisberg), Nov. 13, 1974, has enabled a satisfactory tentative answer to the question of original and restrike varieties, for the first time in numismatic history; the following enumeration replaces any previously published.
At present, five obverses and four reverses were used in eight combinations (others are possible but as yet unverified) to make 1856 nickel cents of the design adopted in 1857. In addition, there are mulings with a different reverse die (oak wreath and garnished shield) and with two variant obverses (dateless with legend, and dateless without legend), all of which are believed to be 1858 productions. Of the regular reverse dies, one was apparently reused for some 1857 regular proofs, and two are suspected to be 1858 products. One is a prototype die and the others represent two entirely different hubs most commonly known as "short leaves" and "long leaves" (alluding to the two leaves nearest to bases of C T). Reverses from both hubs are found on coins dated 1856, 1857 and 1858, the short leaves or low leaves type being commonest on 1857 business strikes, the long leaves or high leaves type found on the vast majority of 1858 business strikes. The 1858/7 cents have a high or long leaf reverse. The two hubs differ in shape of lettering, wheat stalks, tassels, ribbons and stems, and in having incuse or relief veins on maple leaves at top of wreath.