1858, Small Letters, Flying Eagle cent, F+

Description

1858, Small Letters, Flying Eagle cent, copper-nickel, in high Fine condition.  This is a better specimen, one of the two varieties for the year, one year after the daring experiment with circulating small cents - which worked out beautifully, much to the Mint's relief in the late 1850s.  Plenty more were minted in 1858 once it was proven that Americans would happily spend that part of small change, breaking us away from the long tradition of emulating the British large copper penny with an American version, the Large Cent (Canada would also do this in the 20th century).  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 the scarcer of the two varieties of 1858, and it saw some circulation it was meant for before being set aside.  We'll find more as interest picks up!