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Lot 1075
1859. NGC graded Proof 64. CAC Approved. Medium mirrors. Very few marks. The coins that were struck between 1859 and 1864 were composed of 88 percent copper and 12 percent nickel, as required by law. In 1864, the weight of the coins was reduced from 72 grains to the present weight of 48 grains, and the alloy changed to 95 percent copper and 5 percent tin and zinc. Research in 1863 indicated that bronze was an excellent alloy for minor coins, and so the copper-nickel alloy was discontinued. Total production of the Indian Head cent was 1,849,648,000 pieces.Housed in an Old Style Holder. Pop 88; 61 finer.
History behind the nickel metal in the U.S. Flying Eagle and Indian Cents. Yes, politics played a major role. Joseph Wharton (in the 1850s a holder of a monopoly on nickel mines in the Western Hemisphere) began writing pamphlets advocating his metal for coinage: It then had no commercial use and was unpopular among metallurgists because it was excessively difficult to work. As Wharton was closely connected with the Philadelphia Mint's ruling families, and moreover had immense political influence, Mint and Treasury authorities paid close attention to all his proposals for the next 30 years.
By late 1853, when the Mint was losing money on every Large cent it made, and copper blanks threatened to become unobtainable at any price, James C. Booth (then Melter and Refiner, and one of the foremost chemists of his day) proposed two simplified versions of Feuchtwanger's metal, which would also earn money for Wharton. The lighter-colored of these consisted of 40% nickel, 40% copper, 20% zinc; the darker 30% nickel, 60% copper, 10% zinc. Booth still later attempted a third alloy 40% nickel, 60% copper. None of these was practical: The two ternary alloys, when bright and new, were easily confused with silver; when dulled, they respectively resembled tin and lead--raising the fear of counterfeits in those metals. Booth's 40-60 cupro-nickel alloy proved impossibly difficult to melt, roll, cut into blanks, and strike; the planchets were hard enough to damage steel dies! Nevertheless, partly because the Mint establishment and Congress were thickly seeded with Wharton's friends, experiments with nickel continued. Protests quickly followed that the metal was justifying its old name Kupfer-Nickel, 'devil's copper,' requiring the very fires of hell even to melt!
Finally, in early 1856, Mint Director Snowden (one of Wharton's longtime friends and neighbors from the Delaware Water Gap area of Pennsylvania) decided on an alloy of 88% copper, 12% nickel, at a weight of 72 grains (4.666 grams = 80 to the troy pound), for the new cents. In July 1856 he sent the Treasury a batch of 50 half cents struck on blanks of this new alloy, and his congressional friends accordingly pushed through a bill to authorize the new Flying Eagle coinage. This became law Feb. 21, 1857. Estimated Value $1,350 - 1,500
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