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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;lkeigwin, post: 1381827, member: 30400&quot;]No harm, no foul, new-at-this. It was a good question.</p><p><br /></p><p>The story I read somewhere was that copper tokens from that era, often with an obverse that resembled the IHC, circulated freely and were readily accepted as payment. The Mint concluded it could reduce the coin&#039;s size (thickness) and switch to brass and save along the way. Brass cents were easier on dies too.</p><p><br /></p><p>So mid-1864 the thicker copper-nickel IHC&#039;s were changed to thinner brass ones. Both 19mm diameter, but from 4.7g to 3.11g.</p><p><br /></p><p>FWIW, third party grading companies assign a color designation for brass IHC&#039;s but not the copper-nickel ones.</p><p><br /></p><p>Here are examples of each.</p><p>Lance.</p><p><br /></p><p><img src="http://i244.photobucket.com/albums/gg37/lkeigwin/IHCs/f9b96b61.jpg" class="bbCodeImage wysiwygImage" alt="" unselectable="on" /><img src="http://i244.photobucket.com/albums/gg37/lkeigwin/IHCs/5843db20.jpg" class="bbCodeImage wysiwygImage" alt="" unselectable="on" /></p><p><img src="http://i244.photobucket.com/albums/gg37/lkeigwin/IHCs/bb240f81.jpg" class="bbCodeImage wysiwygImage" alt="" unselectable="on" /><img src="http://i244.photobucket.com/albums/gg37/lkeigwin/IHCs/27bda601.jpg" class="bbCodeImage wysiwygImage" alt="" unselectable="on" />[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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