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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;johnmilton, post: 3419743, member: 101855&quot;]By the mid 1850s, the U.S. was looking for an alternative to the large cent. The “big pennies” had never been popular and had not circulated well outside of the big cities for many years. In addition the cost of producing them had made the large cent a drag on the mint’s operating budget. The solution was a smaller cent, but what would it be?</p><p><br /></p><p>There are a number of pattern coins that were made in the made in the mid 1850s, and those who would like to research them can check any of the books on patterns that have been published over the years. Some of those patterns are not rare, as patterns go, and a few of them even crop up in the circulated grades.</p><p><br /></p><p>The winner was a copper-nickel cent that weighed 4.67 grams with a diameter of 19 mm. The coins were struck on a thick planchette. The though was that the new cent needed to look like it was worth a cent, even though its metal content made it a token coin. The design was obviously inspired by the flying eagle that had appeared on the reverse of the Gobrecht Dollars that had been issued in the mid to late 1830s.</p><p><br /></p><p>The new cents were an immediate hit. Citizens lined up in droves at the mint to get some of the new cents. Unfortunately the beautiful flying eagle design did not last. Striking problems, which had to do with the hardness of the copper-nickel alloy and the metal flow that the motif created forced its replacement in 1859 with the Indian Cent.</p><p><br /></p><p>Here is new box of two. The 1857 Large Cent, which comes in two minor date size varieties, with a mintage 333,456 is viewed as somewhat of a “key coin,” but it is often available at reasonable prices. The 1857 Flying Eagle Cent, with a mintage of 17,450,000 is common in all grades except as a Proof coin.</p><p><br /></p><p>An 1857 Large Cent</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]907553[/ATTACH] [ATTACH=full]907554[/ATTACH]</p><p><br /></p><p>An 1857 Flying Eagle Cent</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]907555[/ATTACH] [ATTACH=full]907556[/ATTACH]</p><p><br /></p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>Of could one could have a “box of two” with coins dated 1856, but the Flying Eagle Cent from that year is a bit pricey.</p><p><br /></p><p>This poorly struck 1857 Flying Eagle Cent shows the technical problems that plagued the design.</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]907557[/ATTACH] [ATTACH=full]907559[/ATTACH][/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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