1857 Flying Eagle cent

Description

1857 Flying Eagle cent, copper-nickel, in Good condition.  This is a modest specimen from the first year of a daring experiment with circulating small cents - which worked out beautifully, much to the Mint's relief in the late 1850s.  Plenty were minted - 17 million - to reset how Americans spent that part of small change, and to break away from the long tradition of emulating the British large copper penny with an American version, the Large Cent.  The knowledge that large cents were being phased out and offered for trade-in for new. smaller, copper-nickel versions helped spark coin collecting as a more widespread hobby.  Here we are offering just a Good coin, which means it saw that circulation it was meant for before being set aside.  We'll find more as interest picks up!