Flying Eagle Small Cent

The U.S. started circulating Small Cents in 1857 because it was too costly to make the larger size Half Cent and Large Cent and to encourage people to begin moving away from using Spanish and English coins.

The Flying Eagle Small Cent was the first Small Cent and it was issued as a pattern type, but in a small number in 1856. A business strike was made in 1857.

The small coin was welcomed by the public due to the compact size and the non-smearing copper/nickel composition in lieu of the big pure copper penny that stained hands. The Flying Eagle Small Cent was the first penny issued in the United States without a Liberty design. The spectacular “Flying Eagle” design was intended originally to be on a silver dollar. The design was problematic as far as minting was concerned, especially the head and the tail. This lead to its rather abrupt retirement after just two years. 1858 was the final issue of the Flying Eagle Cent.

The Flying Eagle was known as “nicks’ or “nickels” because of the then new copper-nickel content. Later they were call “white cents’ to describe their light color.

Flying Eagle Small Cents are worth around $10 in G-4 condition.

It is rather easy to find Flying Eagle Small Cents and this is one of the reasons that many people enjoy collecting them.