1857 Flying Eagle Cent| 1857 Flying Eagle Penny: Collectors Notes

by Andrew Spaeth on Sunday, February 28th, 2010 | No Comments

Collectors Notes On The 1857 Flying Eagle Cent:

The 1857 Flying Eagle Cent was the first full year of issue for this coin. The 1856 Flying Eagle Cent was struck in low quantities and used to "advertise" the new small sized cent.

It was given to newspaper editors, politicians, and other men of influence who could sell the idea of the small cent to a public who had been saving and spending the Large Cent for years. The intrinsic value of a coin was very important in those days, and the idea of a smaller cent would lead many to feel they were being short changed the difference of the value between a large and small copper coin. Only 800 circulation strikes were minted in 1856.

The Philadelphia mint struck 17,450,000 examples of the 1857 Flying Eagle Cent and these were all eagerly snapped up.

The Coinage a Act of February 12th, 1857 allowed for the redemption of older worn copper cents and certain foreign coinage like the Spanish Reales that had been in use since before the US founding. Many of these Reales were worn slick from use, and the act would replace the old coins with bright shiny copper nickel Flying Eagle Pennies.

The mint could not keep up with the demand, and those who were lucky enough to get possession of the 1957 Flying Eagle Cent would often sell a portion of their pennies at a premium to those not as fortunate. This continued into the 1858 year, when an additional 24,600,000 coins were minted.

Initially, the 1857 Flying Eagle Cent was heavily saved as a curiosity, and the fact that large numbers of them were "paid out" for old coppers and reales may have helped with survivability. Only a few at a time could be spent, so many were bundled into bags of 25, 50 or 100 quantity, limiting the wear from personal contact. By 1863 the Civil War would cause all coinage to be removed from circulation as people hoarded coins in uncertain times. After the War they came back into circulation and stayed there till the 1870's, when The Mint Act of 1871 gave the Mint the authority to redeem old copper nickel and bronze coins for new Indian Head Pennies. The redeemed coins were melted and used to mint more pennies.

As a result of this, most examples of the 1857 Flying Eagle Cent are either heavily worn (fine or below) or Uncirculated. Finding an excellent 1857 Flying Eagle Cent in Extremely Fine Or About Uncirculated condition is a difficult task.