This year cents were the main items on my shopping list. I am trying to build a date set of cents from 1793 to 2025. The year 1856 is covered in this set by a large cent I have had for a number of years. It's the best Braded Hair piece I have, and it is the coin for my type set. I had been thinking about an 1856 Flying Eagle Cent as a Proof for some time. Unlike some type collectors I prefer Proof coins when I can get them. Currently the Proof 1856 Flying Eagle cents are selling for a good deal less than than the Uncirculated pieces. All of them have been expensive for years, of course. I can't do justice with this piece with my photographs. I'm still working on it, but this is the best I've done so far. It is NGC graded PR-64. This historic coin marked the start of the small cent era. Many of them were struck and given to members of Congress to get them to support the bill for the small cents. Many more were made over the next couple of years to satisfy collector demand. The passing of the large cent brought a much larger number of Americans into the coin collecting hobby. People immediately starting collecting the large cents by date, and market was born. The Red Book has long listed the mintage for the 1856 Flying Eagle cent at 1,000 pieces. It's a good deal higher than that. The current estimate is 2,200 to 2,300. It doesn't matter. The strong demand for this coin has kept the prices high for many years.
Beautiful coins and gems for your collection. I especially like the large cent as it's one of my favorite series of American coins. Kudos to you for two wonderful examples. Bruce
Very nice pick up, Bill! That FE is absolutely amazing. I wouldn't kick that large cent out of bed for eating crackers either.
That braided hair cent is unbelievable. As for the proof FEC, I've never seen one before so I have no frame of reference. Now that I think about it, I don't even know if I have ever seen a photo of one before. Congrats on adding that rarity to your amazing collection!
Years ago at a small coin show in western OK a dealer plopped a slabbed one in front of me while I was looking at some Indian Head cents that I was considering buying. I remember telling him that the $8K he wanted for it would end my marriage if I bought it. Looking back I should have bought it since my marriage ended a few years later anyway.
Each of these coins are a beautiful example of the minter's art at the time large cents faded out and small cents came into being.
I was reading up on why this was such a short-lived issue, and learned something odd (to me at least) - large cents were never legal tender because they were copper. The federal government would not redeem them or take them in payment of taxes; banks and merchants often refused them. So for 64 years the US Mint was making coins that the federal government wouldn't accept. How strange. Part of legislation authorizing the Flying Eagle cents made them legal tender.
The small cents did have limited legal tender status, but it wasn’t much. I think it was 10 cents at one point, and then it went down to 4 cents. Today it’s 50 cents. That means you can’t pay a debt legally by dumping a truck load of cents in someone’s front yard.
Very true, but, since most people don't know that, it sometimes happens and the victim doesn't know he or she can keep the cents and still take the person to court for the debt owed (minus the 50 cents). Personally, I wouldn't totally object to a dump truck load of unsearched cents to go through. By the way, I love the 1856 pair!!
I think that both are counterfeit and you should send them to me for proper disposal. Those are both amazingly beautiful examples, I can only dream of owning coins that nice. Congrats on the pickup.
Each year something has kept me away. I do miss hanging out with you guys. This year I am on a cruise to Antarctica. I Saw penguins on an iceberg out my window this morning