I compared my holding of Flying Eagle and Indian Head Cents with the Red Book listings. I put "Complete" in quotes since I have all date/mint mark regular issues BUT I don't have some of the varieties listed in the Red Book. Here's what I'm MISSING: FE 1858, 8/7 IHC 1859 Oak Leaf Rev. with Shield (the Red Book says 1000 struck but none released for circulation!?) 1869, 9 over 9 1870 Don't know which variety I'm missing, Shallow "N" or Bold "N" 1871 Don't know which variety I'm missing, Shallow "N" or Bold "N" 1872 Don't know which variety I'm missing, Shallow "N" or Bold "N" 1873 Doubled LIBERTY 1875 Dot Reverse 1888 Last 8/7 1894 Doubled Date I'll see if I have images of my 1870, 1871 and 1872 coins. If I do I'll post them and maybe you can help me resolve the Shallow "N" or Bold "N" identification.
Okay, got the images of the 1870 and 1872. Can't do the 1871 since I put the whole set is in a safe deposit box and didn't image it before I did that. Okay, Shallow "N" or Bold "N"? 1870 1872
Holy cow, those are some beautiful IHC! What's the grade on that 1872? Looks like PCGS prongs, there. That there is one pretty penny, and I'm sure it would cost someone a pretty penny indeed! Semi-key in MS RD like that? Wow. I dunno anything about varieties, but I did complete the series once (no overdates or stuff like that). But mine was a humble G-VF set, and my 1877 was AG. Actually had another 1877 that was VG details but slightly damaged. Got the pair of '77s for an investment of eight dollars, after some savvy swapping of world coins I'd found in bulk lots!
The 1870 is MS-64 RB The 1872 is MS-65 BN The color differences are a function of different camera setups, different exposure settings and different lighting. My set was accumulated over a period of 10-15 years so things changed over time.
A good second indicator for distinguishing the shallow Ns from the bold Ns is the middle serif in the E of ONE on the reverse. If it looks like a trumpet it is a bold N if it looks flatter and longer it is a Shallow N. Here are some good articles about a complete set of Flying Eagles and Indian Head cents: https://nnp.wustl.edu/library/book/534359 http://www.fly-inclub.org/files/ll_vol_1-1.pdf http://www.fly-inclub.org/files/ll_vol_114_issue_50.pdf https://www.archive.org/stream/LLVol22No03Whole86Dec2012#page/n3/mode/2up There are different ideas about what constitutes a complete set. If you are only looking for deliberate mint versions or hub designs the set is probably achievable, if you are looking for all varieties it probably is not.
Well I'm definitely not trying for all the Snow varieties. Whether I'll shoot for the ones I listed above is a TBD. Right now I'm working on completing an Early Commemorative set. I've got the Cincinnati (P) mint coming. That leaves me with a bunch of the Oregon, Texas, Boone and Arkansas date/mint mark varieties. I'll never get the $50 Panama-Pacific gold. And I'm missing 4-6 of the other gold Early Commemoratives; the number depends on whether I can find where I put a couple of them.
The Flying Eagle series is the easiest to collect a complete set of, even in certified coins, since they are seldom properly classified. Check out the article on page 20 of this archived edition of Longacre's Ledger to see what I think is a complete collection: https://www.archive.org/stream/LLVol22No03Whole86Dec2012#page/n19/mode/2up The mint created several varieties deliberately with design changes. Though some of the varieties like the 8/7 were deliberate as a result of reusing a previous year's dies, they weren't intentional design changes. Other varieties are actually mistakes or the result of die deterioration.
