1857 Obverse 1st 1858 Close up large letters Obverse of 1st 1858 large letters A 2nd 1858 Close up small letters Obverse of 2nd 1858 small letters
The 1858 has two reverse varieties, too, so there are actually four die combinations to have them all. I'm just saying...
Nice , this is one coin near the top of my want list . Every type set that includes 19th century coins needs one .
First time I saw a FE cent I was probably 9. I thought it was so weird that a coin wouldn't have a "tails" design on both sides.
Sure. I love these FEs. All of mine are in F and down, too, but I don't care, lol. See this, it's a good resource: http://indianvarieties.com/research/flying-eagle-cent-hub-design-types/.
You have a few more to collect if you want all of the master die or hub varieties that were intentional mint changes made during the two years. A master die or hub is an early step in the coining process best described in Richard Snow's Attribution Guide and Q. David Bower's book. Another way of looking at this level of variety is to simply say that these are intentional mint design differences. Other varieties may have been deliberate such as over-dates like the 1858/7 made by an engraver when punching the date unto a working die but not an intentional mint design change. Some of the varieties are the result of the economic influences of minting, such as the use of usable working dies and hubs carried over from a previous year (or earlier design from the same year) in combination with the latest design change in the opposing die. This is seen in the 1856 Obverse on the 1857 coin. These are the master die or hub varieties (at least those varieties currently attributed is as follows: 1857 with an obverse of the 1856 1857 with an obverse of 1857 1858 with large letters (LL), high leaves (HL) and Type 1 Closed E 1858 with large letters (LL), low leaves (LL) and Type 2 Close E 1858 with large letters (LL), low leaves (LL) and Type 3 Open E 1858 with small letters (SL), high leaves (HL) and Type 1 Closed E 1858 with small letters (SL), low leaves (LL) and Type 2 Close E 1858 with small letters (SL), low leaves (LL) and Type 3 Open E If you are interested in Flying Eagles you may be interested in joining the Flying Eagle and Indian Cent Club called the Fly-In Club. http://www.fly-inclub.org/ There are several articles in their journal called "Longacre's Ledger" all archived editions are posted on their club website and their forum is a good place to exchange posts about FEs and IHCs.
I really appreciate the detailed information, Frech. I have been collecting for years, have a few Flying Eagles, but never became a serious collector of them. I enjoy Ancients. However, I feel that US Flying Eagle Cents are probably my favorite US Coins along with Trade Dollars and 20 Cent Pieces... I feel NOW, you have given me the FE BUG, and I am going to go get all of those varieties!
The FE set is my favorite as well. There are no albums for them so I chose to hunt for slabbed certified coins. Since these are not attributed by any of the certification houses you need to cherry pick for them, which makes the hunt that much more fun except that good photos of slabbed coins are difficult to find on eBay. But the fun is in the hunt. Good Luck! I only collect U.S. IHCs and Lincoln Wheats and just circulated coins. I'd suggest you hunt for VF or better examples because once you complete your quest you will want to upgrade them one at a time anyway, so best to take your time and look for nice examples. There are some great articles in the archived issues of Longacre's Ledger dating back to 1991. They are in pdf format available on the Fly-In Club website. That is where I learned most of what I know about IHCs and FEs. Incidentally, the website referenced by ediespin above in this thread was created by another Fly-In Club member whom I met through the club and shared some of my photos of FEs with for his nice website.
Fech, thank you for your help. As with anything, I agree...research, take my time, then pounce fast. Ready-Aim-Fire approach...Ready is Research, and take 90% of my time; Aim is selecting my choices, which is 9% of my time; and Fire is acquistion after good targeting.
