The 1909-S Indian Cent

While the 1877 Indian Cent is the indisputable key date of its series from the standpoint of overall cost and popularity as a rarity, the 1909-S has the lowest mintage and, in that respect, has a fair claim to “key” status. This San Francisco issue from the last year of the series is a challenging date and difficult for many collectors to obtain, due to its overall cost and – for those building top-end sets, scarcity of nice Mint State examples.

A Look at the 1909-S Indian Cent

The majority of the Indian Cent series, designed by James B. Longacre and running from 1859 through 1909, was struck at the Philadelphia Mint. This is not for reasons of coincidence or convenience, but legality. The first Indian Cents made outside of Philadelphia were made only after 1906, with passage of a law permitting branch mints to strike minor base-metal coins. The first of these branch issues came along with the 1908-S Indian Cent, itself a semi-key collectible with a mintage of 1,115,000. But the 1909-S Indian Cent saw a far smaller output of just 309,000 – lower than the mintage of any other business-strike Indian Cent.

This last-year issue was saved in large numbers. Due to the throngs of collectors who held onto these coins from the onset from bank rolls and other sources of uncirculated specimens, the 1909-S Indian Cent is scarce in lower grades. Even still, the 1909-S is a rare coin with a steep price regardless of grade and sees a relatively small spread in values across much of the grading spectrum.

1909-S Indian Cent – Prices, Grading & More

While the 1909-S Indian Cent saw a mintage of 309,000, PCGS estimates only around 5,000 may still exist across the entire grading spectrum. The majority of these grade between VF20 and AU50, yet even in a grade of only G4 prices start around $325. In the more commonly trade grades of VF20 to XF40, prices range between $400 and $600.

As one looks for specimens of the coin in Mint State grades, budgets must be adjusted upward to at least four figures, as even in MS60BN, the 1909-S Indian Cent takes $1,050. In MS63BN, the price jumps to $1,350. The collector’s options for RB and RD specimens open significantly beyond the numerical grading point of “63,” though be prepared to pay.

In MS64RB the rarity will set collectors back around $2,400, and in MS65RD prices leap to $5,500. Populations dramatically taper off above MS65RD, with just 29 known examples grading MS66RD and just two in the finest-known grade of MS67RD. The all-time record price for a 1909-S Indian Cent is $97,750, which was paid in a 2006 Heritage Auctions for an example grading PCGS MS67RD.

Collecting & Authenticity

The 1909-S is a necessary addition to any complete date-and-mint mark set of Indian Cents. Therefore, even sets consisting of well-worn specimens will require an example, in part explaining the coin’s relatively high entry-level price in the lower circulated grades. Collectors have multiple opportunities to include an example of the 1909-S in a PCGS Registry Set, which offers no fewer than a dozen different types of Indian Cent sets.

Collectors who wish to buy the 1909-S Indian Cent should be cautious about the myriad counterfeit and altered examples that proliferate in the marketplace. Both S-Mint Indian Cents, the 1908-S and 1909-S, are notoriously faked and masquerade in the marketplace as “raw” (or unholdered) examples. One of the common diagnostics for verifying the authenticity of the 1909-S is in the “S” mint mark itself, which comes from the same punch used for the 1908-S. Fakes, cast counterfeits, and alterations are becoming more deceptive all the time. And that’s why, even armed with this knowledge, the prudent collector will skip worrying over the authenticity of their raw 1909-S Indian Cents and simply buy specimens encapsulated by PCGS.

Sources

• Breen, Walter. Walter Breen’s Complete Encyclopedia of U.S. and Colonial Coins. Doubleday, 1988.
• Gibbs, William T. “A Change in the Law Removes Restrictions.” CoinWorld. July 26, 2019. Accessed July 9, 2021.
• Snow, Richard. A Guide Book of Flying Eagle and Indian Head Cents. Whitman Publishing, 2016.