About Flying Eagle Cents

aka FECs

When the United States Mint was created in Philadelphia in 1792, Congress decreed that all denominations be produced on a seignoriage scale. Seignoriage means the stated value of the denomination must be equivalent to the intrinsic weight of the denomination being struck. In other words a cent must be produced with one cent worth of copper in it. Likewise, a Half Dime must have 5-cents worth of silver, a quarter had 25c worth of silver and so on. The same with gold… A $5 Gold coin must contain $5 worth of gold.

An example of an 1857 Flying Eagle Cent. Almost / About Uncirculated 50.

The outcome was the first Large cents produced in copper were just that—very large. In 1792 the cent looked very different from a modern day Lincoln cent.

In 1792 all transactions were coin-based, there were no credit cards, Venmo, or even paper money for that matter. So despite the weight of a cent, seignoriage was generously thought out by the Founding Fathers to insure confidence in a new nation’s financial system.

By 1857, the cost of manufacturing a Large Cent exceeded its face value and its large size was becoming ever more cumbersome for general commerce. On February 21st, 1857 Congress legislated the Mint to reduce the size of the cent, from 10.89 grams to 4.67 grams.

Additionally, the alloy was amended from pure copper to 88% copper -12% nickel. Nickel was discovered in nearby Lancaster County and Joseph Wharton petitioned the Mint for its application in a coining alloy.

The new “small” cent depicted a flying eagle on the obverse and a wreath on the reverse and quickly gained popularity amongst the public. The designer of the Flying Eagle cent was James B. Longacre, the namesake of this organization. In addition to the Flying Eagle, Longacre designed numerous other US coin designs as well as medals. However, his most identifiable design and the one he is most famous for is the Indian Cent, one of the most popular series in all of United States coin collecting.

Very Fine 20

Very Fine 30

Extremely Fine 45

Almost Uncirculated 50

Almost Uncirculated 55

Almost Uncirculated 58

Mint State 60
Mint State 63
Mint State 64
Mint State 65
Mint State 66
Proof 63
Proof 64
Proof 65
Proof 66

If you would enjoy learning more about the Flying Eagle, Indian Cent and other James B Longacre designs, as well as the history of their times please consider joining the Fly-In Club.

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