When I was high school, Indian Cents were my thing. I eventually completed the collection and then sold it in a down market in the early 1970s. Well I'm at it again. I am working on an Indian Cent collection in EF and AU, with an emphasis on raw coins. I found five coins at the Summer FUN show. I did buy one coin that was slabbed, however, the 1877. The 1877 is the queen of the Indian Cents. It's the famous key date along with the 1909-S, which is much easier to find. This one looks better in person. It's PCGS graded EF-40 with a strong "LIBERTY." You would be surprised how many of these coins are over graded in the holder. This is the fourth 1877 Indian I have owned. I had a Fine-12 when I was a kid. I bought two when I was a dealer. One had been cleaned and had to go into an old ANACS "soapbar" holder. I bought this one raw and had it graded. It's the best one I've owned. NGC called it AU-58. I have an overall goal of collecting one cent for each year from 1793 to 2024. The lone exception is the 1815. The mint did not make any cents in 1815. I probably won't make it because of the 1799, but it will be a fun ride.
My brother was asking about Indians, so I sent him a pile of 20 or so...he carries one around sometimes and gives it away.
My favorite childhood coin was the IHC after I found a 1906 in a bank roll. The final set I've completed is the circulated IHC series. The lowest graded coin in the slabbed set is an AU58 1877. A goal is to have all bronze dates/types RB to R. Right now about half are gems (65-66+). I hope to keep upgrading for another couple of years before liquidating everything.
My personal favorite cent design. And I'm not surprised in the least that they get over graded. More than a few at the coin shows I've found. I'm not sure what criteria they use, but for me it's always been the clarity of diamonds in the head band. Best of luck on your endeavor!
I've found that the grading standard for the 1877 is remarkably lower than that for all the other dates/MMs of IHCs. It's one of the things that prompted me to stop collecting them.
Most of the 1877 Indian Cents are over graded. That’s been true at least since I was a dealer almost 30 years ago. JJ Teaparty had the one I purchased. It had a couple more marks than I would have liked, but the “LIBERTY” is strong. They had another one that was graded VF-30. It looked similar to the Fine-12 I bought in the late 1960s.
When I was a young adult I inherited a pile of Indian cents that an aunt had squirreled away. It had two 1877's in it! I sent the better one off too NGC a while back and it graded AG details. I had collected for a while but this is what really jump started my serious collecting.
The EF-40 on your coin is really strong. When I look at an extra or very fine the "Liberty" is what I first look at. On some of the xfs the word is definitely worn and on most very fine it is worn off or at least partially worn away.
That is one nice 1877 IHC. I too used to have a complete set and hard times took it away. I'm working on another one as well. I have 8 that are waiting to get entombed. I hope you enjoy your journey. Let me ask, are you going for both types of the 1886? Reson I asked is it seems the type 2 was hard for me to find a nice XF40 without breaking the bank. Well, not as much as a 1877.
It seems like with those 1877 pennies, they can be a few points higher mainly because of being a key date. PCGS could make $10 or $15 more between grades, which may prompt them to give one a higher grade, but I agree with you that this one is accurately graded. For me, I grade Indian Heads partially by the fullness of Liberty and the number of diamonds on the neck. On the banner that states "Liberty", you can kinda make a rectangle as for wear; while circulated there may be wear on the letters, but if there is visible wear in the fields around Liberty, it's VF35 tops. Sounds like you need a Daniel Carr piece! He made 1815 large cent overstrikes a few years ago, and there was one for sale on this site. I don't know if it's still for sale, though, as the post was from 2019, but they are really cool to look at.
When I was kid, I could never purchase an 1886 cent in anything better than VG (today's Fine) for whatever reason. I found this one early in my search. I think a big part of the problem is that the dies for the 1886 Type II were not made well. There was a problem. Even the Mint State pieces often show weak details. I probably will get both types eventually. My min focus will be to get all of the dates.
