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Message:: [QUOTE="johnmilton, post: 3471339, member: 101855"]Here is some history for you. In 1857, when the small cent replaced that large cent, the first cents were made of copper-nickel and were heavier than the modern cent and the bronze cents which were introduced in 1864. The idea was that the government waned to make it seem like the new cent was a cent, even though it wasn’t. Acceptance of the new coins was the goal. The first small cents had the Flying Eagle design. It was a very attractive design, but it did not always strike up well. In 1859, the Indian design was introduced with the weight and composition as the Flying Eagle Cents. The reverse was changed in 1860 with a small shield added at the top and a modified wreath. The design remianed the same until 1864. That year there were copper-nickel cents and bronze cents with and without the designer’s initial “L.” The “L” stood for Longacre. The bronze cents, which were similar in size and composition to the Civil War tokens, that were issued privately during the war, had the same composition until 1982 with the mint introduced the zinc and copper plated cents we have today in a cost cutting move. The piece you purchased, an 1862 “thick, white” copper-nickel cent, is one of the most common dates. That might be too much information, but that explains why your cent is thicker and “different.” I collected Indian cents when I was high schoool, which was in the 1960s. So yea, I’m old.[/QUOTE]