Last coin of 2024: An 1864 Indian Head Cent, PCGS-MS-64, CAC, Eagle Eye

This is it, my last purchase of 2024 as I am heading out on vacation for most of December.

This was a good year: 20 Classic Commemorative Half Dollars, 7 coins for my 19th Century US non-gold type set, and 2 world coins.

So here she is, my first ever Indian Head Cent:



I hope you guys like it as much as I do. I'm excited about this one. And as always, please feel free to comment, post coins of your own, etc.

 

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Well your first is one fine example!

 

Do they mark these "No L" on the slab? I'd think they'd have to. I'm just curious.

 

Here you go!

 

Interesting since there's a big price difference. Perhaps they just mark the "With L" ones.

 

These early Indian head cents were made with a copper nickel alloy (similar to the flying eagle cents). Later in 1864 they switched to bronze and it is with the bronze ones that you get the ones with the L ribbon

 

That explains it. That looks like a bronze in the picture. I looked right past "CUNI" on the slab.

 

The presence or absence of the “L” has nothing to do with this coin. It is made of the copper-nickel composition. All of those coins do not have the “L.”

Longacre redid his Indian Cent dies in 1864. The “redo” included his initial and a pointed bust on the Indian. The old and new dies were used side by side when the composition was changed to bronze.

I have to admit that I was confused. I took this coin to be the bronze variety because of the color in the photograph.

The copper-nickel cents in their pristine form are white, like the modern five cent piece. They can tone to various colors. The only bad color is black. Steer clear of those coins because that’s corrosion. Here is a cent with its original white color.

 

The bust is of his 11-year-old daughter with the Indian headdress. Nice first cent.

 

I believe I just said that, I thought it was a bronze cent. Rounded bust. “No L.” I overlooked “CUNI” when he showed the slab. That of course stands for “Copper Nickel,” the periodic symbols for those elements.

 

From Eagle Eye, their photo:



Another cue that this is the copper nickel coin, and not bronze, look at the bust by the date, you see how above the one it is rounded. The bronze Indian heads have that area pointed.

 

Not accurate. The first bronze ones had rounded busts, too. It’s what I thought it was, initially, a bronze “No L” (…which is the bronze rounded bust). The first ones carried the rounded busts and “No Ls” of the CUNIs.

 

Only the 1859 and some of the 1860's had the "pointed" bust. Otherwise, the rest of the IHC series had the rounded bust. The 1860 pointed bust is rarer than the 1860 rounded bust. I purchased an unattributed 1860 IHC in an early PCGS holder and had it reholdered and labeled as the pointed bust variety. This more than doubled its value.