NOT SOLD (BIDDING OVER)
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This item WAS NOT SOLD. Auction date was 2002 Feb 19 @ 09:30UTC-8 : PST/AKDT
Small Cents 1856 Flying Eagle. PCGS graded Proof 65. <b>The most heralded Small Cent of the 19th century, and rightfully so, the 1856 has captured the fancy of generations of coin collectors. This remarkable specimen is every bit as sharp and detailed as its grade suggests. The fields on both sides are utterly perfect, without the usual spotting, with any marks or discoloration. Mirror reflection lacks depth as on most of the known Proofs, the devices are sharp, one could almost call them razor-sharp. For starters, the eagle's wings and chest are replete with full feathers. The head has a sharp beak, full eye, and clear nasal opening, while at the caudal apex (the other end) the tail delineates itself into finely details feathers without the least amount of softness. This latter characteristic is a hallmark of the few Proof 65s we have seen, but often not found on lesser quality 1856 Flying Eagle cents. For the reverse, the identical sharp relief is found. Cotton bolls, leaves on the corn husks, tiny kernels of wheat either side of a bold ribbon bow. Put it all together and you get a marvelous presentation. Beginning around 1849 the Committee of Ways and Means advised Mint Director Patterson that it was studying a reduction in the size of the one-cent piece. The following year, the Mint produced several patterns. Struck in billon and copper, the pieces had holes at the center in the manner of Chinese coins. The diameter approximated that of a dime. In 1851 additional patterns were made of the so-called annular, or ring, cent. The cumbersome large cent was finding increasing disfavor with the public. The patterns for 1853 contain nickel and copper in various alloy mixtures, again on reduced-size planchets a little larger than a dime. It was believed that nickel, being valued at $2 per pound, would permit a smaller diameter coin to be made with the intrinsic value remaining sufficiently high. 1854, saw the production of additional patterns. Made in copper and related alloys, the pieces depicted various designs including Liberty seated, a Liberty head style similar to that used on regular issue large cents but without stars, and a flying eagle design resurrected from Gobrecht's pattern silver coins of 1836-1839. In 1855 additional flying eagle patterns were made. Demand for the abandonment of the old-style copper cent increased to the point where James Ross Snowden reported that by 1857 the production of large copper cents and half cents barely paid the coinage expenses involved. The Act of February 21, 1857, provided that a new standard be adopted and thus sounded the end for the venerable old coppers. The public was to redeem all cents of the old standard. Within a few years large cents became far less common. Following these experiments with reduced-diameter cents and various alloys in 1849-56, Director Snowden decided in 1856 that a mixture of 88% copper and 12% nickel, the compound later called copper-nickel, would be chosen. Initially about 50 trial pieces were made from regular half cent dies to test the new alloy. From this, Snowden requested that Mint engraver James B. Longacre produce new cent dies of smaller diameter featuring a flying eagle on the obverse, modeled after the Gobrecht patterns. This was subsequently done, and somewhere between 600 and 700 examples, with the frosty surface known today as 'Uncirculated' (rather than Proof), were distributed to members of the Senate and House of Representatives, 200 pieces to the Committee on Coinage, Weights and Measures, four to President Franklin Pierce, a number of various newspaper editors and influential persons. In later years the flying eagle cent became a popular collector's item, and additional pieces were restruck. It is believed that the restrikes amounted to approximately 1,000 pieces, giving a total original production somewhere in the 1,600 to 1,800 range. The Guide Book of United States Coins pegs the mintage at about 1,000 pieces, a considerably lower figure. In any event, of the original pieces minted, many have been lost today.</b> <p align="center">Superior Galleries was founded in 1929 and has been a leader in
the numismatic auction business since 1971.</p> <p align="center"><b>Consignments wanted for June 2 & 3, 2002 Pre-Long Beach Sale.</b></p> <p align="center"><b>Call Steve Deeds</b> at (800) 421-0754 ext 230.</p>
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United States
Previewing Details:
2/11-2/15 from 9am-5:30pm by appointment only; 2/16-2/17 from 9am-5:30pm no appointment necessary
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