Indian head penny

How to read it

The US Mint dates the Indian Head design from 1859 to 1909, after the Flying Eagle cent of 1857 and 1858 and before the Lincoln cent. James Barton Longacre designed it. Ron Guth’s notes on PCGS CoinFacts say the head is Liberty wearing an Indian chief’s headdress, not a portrait of a Native American. The 1859 cent has a plain wreath on the reverse; a small shield was added at the top of the reverse in 1860. Until 1864 the cents were copper-nickel: PCGS lists 88% copper and 12% nickel, 4.70 grams, for 1859. In 1864 they became lighter bronze coins, 3.11 grams of 95% copper with tin and zinc.

Also searched as: Indian head cent, Indian penny.

Key dates

PCGS names 1877, 1908-S and 1909-S. By PCGS’s account the 1877 is the most desirable circulation strike in the series, with the second-lowest mintage after the 1909-S, though PCGS believes the official figure of 877,000 is much too high, because only one reverse die is confirmed as striking them all. NGC calls the 1909-S a key date of the series too.

What the NGC Price Guide listed

In June 2023 the NGC Price Guide listed the 1909 at $110 in MS 63 red-brown and $1,450 in MS 66 red, and the 1909-S at $1,850 and $12,500 in the same grades. Its figures change; these are the prices NGC published on that date.

Look-alikes

The Buffalo nickel is also called the Indian Head nickel, a name the US Mint gives alongside Buffalo nickel; it is a five-cent coin with a bison on the back. The Lincoln cent replaced the Indian Head cent in 1909.