I note that the article (basically an advertising piece) did not mention the 58 year period when a 2 cent piece had been suggested by several legislators before the Mint Director suggested it in 1863, but by then it was a good idea.
and? I think the reason the 2 cent was passed was because of the shortage of nickel and the in ability of the mint to keep up. There was a good article in, I forget where now, on the problems of nickel aquisition after 1863 in the civil war that finally caused the cent to be produced in bronze, rather than nickel/cu. The interesting thing I found in that article was that it said the flying eagle was well accepted by the public but disliked by the banks, resulting in the Indian head penny. Darn if I understand what the banks cared about it.
Don't know the article but the sourse was probably a letter from Mint Director Pollock to Sec of the Treasury Chase dated March 19th 1864 The Mint's supply of nickel was exausted and no supplies available from abroad. We are thus shut up to the home supply, from the works of Mr. Wharton; but if we could receive all made at his establishment the amount would be wholly insufficient, would be from five hundred to eight hundred pounds a week, not more than one half the amount required under ordinary circumstances. Letter copied from Fraction Money by Neil Carothers As to the banks and the cent the only thing I can think of there is that the flying eagle cent was not legal tender and was not redeemable by the government. It was issued in amounts that were greatly in excess of what was needed for commerce and tended to pile up in cash drawers and the banks. Since the banks could not get rid of them fast enough they refused to accept them. The new bronze indianheads on the other hand were legal tender up to ten cents and this made them easier to move along. At that time Legal tender was accepted to mean that they MUST be accepted when tendered. A couple years later that legal tender amount was reduced to four cents.)
Indeed. The article was in Nuismatics News http://www.numismaster.com/ta/numis/Article.jsp?ad=article&ArticleId=25800
Aren't you a moderator at that other forum? The one where people monitor this one and try to pick off participants?
Nice picture. Too bad the discussion on the history of the 2 cent piece got washed away by a nasty left turn.
