Small Cents

We see them everyday and we take them for granted. The Small Cent has been around since 1856 as the successor to the Large Cent. The Large Cent was considered unsightly and it was heavy. It was costing the Mint more to make a single Large Cent than the coin was worth so the small cent was the logical solution. The

The Flying Eagle was the first Small Cent that was issued in 1856. The Flying Eagle had a short lifespan because it was difficult to strike the design. The tail features are weak, even on Mint state specimens. The Flying Eagle was phased out in 1858.

The Indian Head Small Cent was next. It had a closed laurel wreath on the reverse in 1859 and included the shield on the reverse above the open oak wreath between the years 1860 and 1909.

The Small Cent began to look more like the pennies of today during 1864 when the composition was changed to 95 percent copper, five percent tin and zinc and had a reduced weight.

The Indian Head Small Cent design was popular and in spite of this it was announced in 1909 that the design would be replaced with a bust of Abraham Lincoln designed by Victor D. Brenner in honor of the centennial anniversary of Lincoln’s birth. Brenner added his initials VDB at the bottom of the 1909 cent.

The Lincoln cent design is the most consistent design of all of the coins that have ever circulated in the United States. It is still in use today and it seems it will continued to be used for many years to come.

The reverse of the Lincoln cent was changed in 1959 to the Lincoln Memorial to mark the 150th anniversary of his birth. There are some interesting varieties with the Lincoln Memorial reverse series. The scarcest is the 1995 double die.