Q.David Bowers
In 1816 Robert Scot redesigned the cent. Miss Liberty appeared with a coronet on which the word LIBERTY was inscribed. With several variations, this style was continued until 1839, at which time it was superseded by Gobrecht's braided hair style. The braided hair motif, also with several variations, continued through 1857. Cents of the later years were chronicled by Howard R. Newcomb in United States Copper Cents 1817-1857, published in 1944. Scarce dates among later cents include the 1821, 1823, and 1857. 1839 saw the production of several different distinct varieties, the Head of 1838, the Head of 1840 (braided hair style), and the curiously-named Silly Head and Booby Head.
In 1849 the Committee of Ways and Means advised Robert Maskell Patterson, director of the Mint, that it was studying the reduction of the size of the one-cent piece. In 1850, the following year, the Mint produced several patterns. Struck in billon (an alloy of 90% copper and 10% silver) and copper, the pieces had holes at the center in the manner of Chinese coins. The diameter approximated that of a dime. In 1851 additional patterns were made of the so-called annular, or ring, cent. The cumbersome large cent was finding increasing disfavor with the public, and many complaints were registered with the Mint and government officials. In 1853 patterns containing nickel and copper in various alloy mixtures were produced. It was believed that nickel, being valued at $2 per pound, would permit a smaller diameter coin to be made with the intrinsic value remaining sufficiently high. The following year, 1854, saw the production of additional patterns. Made in copper and related alloys, the pieces depicted various designs including Liberty seated (crudely reduced on a pantograph lathe from the obverse of an 1854 silver dollar), a Liberty head style similar to that used on regular issue large cents but without stars, and a flying eagle design resurrected from Gobrecht's pattern silver coins of 1836-1839. In 1855 additional flying eagle patterns were made.
As experimentation continued, demand for the abandonment of the old-style copper cent increased. James Ross Snowden reported that by 1857 the production of large copper cents and half cents barely paid the coinage expenses involved. The Act of February 21, 1857, pro-vided that a new standard be adopted and thus sounded the death knell for the old-type coppers. The public was urged to redeem all cents of the old standard. Within a few years large cents became curiosities.
Small Cents (1856 to Date)
Following considerable experimentation with reduced-diameter cents and various alloys, Director Snowden decided in 1856 that a mixture of 88% copper and 12% nickel, the compound later called coppernickel, was best. Initially about 50 trial pieces were made from regular half cent dies to test the new alloy. Encouraged, Snowden requested that Mint engraver James B. Longacre produce new cent dies of small diameter featuring a flying eagle on the obverse, modeled after the Gobrecht patterns. This was subsequently done, and somewhere between 600 and 700 examples, with the frosty surface known today as "Uncirculated" (rather than Proof}, were distributed to members of the Senate and House of Representatives, 200 pieces to the Committee on Coinage, Weights and Measures, four to President Franklin Pierce, a number to various newspaper editors and others of influence, and additional pieces to persons associated with the Treasury Department. In later years the 1856 flying eagle cent became a popular collector's item, and additional pieces were restruck.
Following passage of the 1857 coinage legislation on February 21st, production of 1857 flying eagle cents commenced at a rapid rate. Eventually over 17 million were coined. A booth was set up in the yard of the Mint. Citizens could obtain the new flying eagle cents in bags of 500 pieces by exchanging Spanish and Mexican coins (made uncurrent by the new legislation) or large cents for them.
From the outset grave problems arose with striking the flying eagle design. Particularly affected were parts of the head and tail of the eagle, for these were opposite parts of the wreath on the coin dies. During the striking process there was insufficient metal flow to fill the recesses in the head and tail of the eagle as well as the wreath at the same time. On November 4, 1858, James Ross Snowden recommended to Howell Cobb, secretary of the Treasury, the adoption of a new Indian head design, by Longacre, to take effect on January 1, 1859. It was believed that the balancing of the relief parts, the obverse center with the Indian head and the reverse with a thin wreath around the edge, would result in a better metal flow. Previously, a number of pattern variations, including a flying eagle redesigned to be much smaller and more delicate in size, were struck in an attempt to remedy the problem.
In 1859 cents with the Indian design on the obverse and a laurel wreath on the reverse were produced. On December 13th of that year Snowden advised the secretary of the Treasury that:
A modification of the devices on the reverse of the cent is desirable. I propose to introduce the shield upon the reverse. This will give it a more National character, and be a decided improvement upon the present coin. I enclose a few specimen pieces I have caused to be struck . . .
In the following year, 1862, a new reverse embodying an oak wreath surmounted by a shield was adopted. Striking of Indian cents on thick copper-nickel planchets continued through early 1864.
In 1862 and 1863 uncertainty concerning the outcome of the Civil War resulted in widespread hoarding of coins of all types, including copper-nickel cents. In their place a flood of privately-issued tokens filled the channels of commerce. Struck by the millions, these featured a wide variety of political and advertising designs and inscriptions. Made of bronze for the most part, the thin Civil War tokens were readily accepted by merchants and others, an observation not lost on officials of the Mint who for several years had encountered problems with striking the thick copper-nickel cents. The hard copper-nickel alloy caused frequent die breakage and rapid wear. James Pollock, director of the Mint, wrote to Salmon P. Chase, secretary of the Treasury, on December 8, 1863:
In my last annual report I recommended the disuse of nickel in our cent coinage, and the substitution of the alloy lately introduced in France and England, called bronze. It is composed of 95% copper, 3% tin, and 2% zinc, and makes a beautiful and ductile alloy.
This change of the material of the cent is not only desirable in itself as an improvement in the quality and appearance of the coin, but becomes an absolute necessity from the advanced, and still advancing, price of nickel-our entire dependence for a supply upon the foreign market, paying for it in gold or its equivalent, and the probability of a failure to secure an adequate supply for the future at any price, the difficulty of melting, the destruction of dies and machinery, etc., thus increasing the cost of production, which will soon exceed the value of the product, if the price of copper, labor, etc., continues to increase, as it is almost certain to do. In that event the coinage of the cent must cease.
It is not proposed to change the size or devices of the cent, only the weight. The weight of the new coin will be 48 grains, or one tenth ounce troy. Enclosed I send you specimens of the bronze cent, which is very superior in every respect to the slumpy nickel. . . .