Lot 229
1859 Indian Head Cent. PCGS graded MS-64. First year of the regular issue for the Indian cents, the 1859 ended up as a one year type coin when a small shield was added to the upper reverse starting in 1860. Planchets were a composite of .88 copper and .12 nickel. Why nickel? Well, Joseph Wharton came into possession of huge nickel mines up in Canada, and needed a patsy to sell his production to. Using his considerable political influence, Wharton had laws passed changing the metallic content of the cent to include nickel, which at the time had no real economic use, and certainly no precious value. Mint Director James Pollock soon found nickel to be very difficult to work with as an alloy, as nickel made the cent planchets quite hard compared with softer pure copper as had always been used to produce large cents. Thus, dies cracked and broke quickly, and die life dropped considerably. Pollock lobbied hard to have the cursed hard nickel alloy removed from cents, but it wasn't until the Mint literally ran out of nickel in 1863, due to Wharton's mines being unable to keep up with the Philadelphia Mint's voracious demand, that Congress authorized French Bronze (95% copper, 5% tin and zinc) as the new alloy for cents in 1864.
Wharton had the last laugh though, he used the hated "Shinplasters", or 3¢ fractional currency notes then in circulation to launch his comeback by convincing Congress that anything was preferable to these filthy paper rags, Congress relented, and in short order the Philadelphia Mint was striking the new 3¢ nickel coin (75% copper and 25% nickel) in 1865 to replace the hated fractional currency notes and by 1866 the new five cent coin of the same composition to circulate alongside the silver half dime of the same value. Naturally, by the time the fractional currency was replaced, nickel had become firmly established as an alloy at the Mint, and Jefferson nickels to this day continue with the same 75% copper and 25% nickel composition. Perhaps Wharton's wealthy heirs still retain these nickel mines, with regular checks streaming in from government mints around the world eager to buy up their nickel production.
This particular Indian cent has nice luster and a few stray specks on both sides. An excellent coin to represent this one year type issue.
Estimated Value $600 - 700.
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| Realized $978 |
