Flying Eagle cent

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1857 Flying Eagle Cent - obverse

1857 Flying Eagle Cent - reverse

The Flying Eagle cent is a United States coin that was minted from 1857 to 1858. The Flying Eagle was the first small-sized cent coin minted in the US, replacing the earlier large cent. The obverse of the coin depicts an eagle in flight, a unique subject for the obverse of American coins. The reverse of the coin has the words ONE CENT surrounded by a wreath, similar to the reverse on the latter Indian Head cent. The United States Mint in Philadelphia struck between 1000 and 2000 Flying Eagle cents in 1856 as pattern pieces, a way to show influential Congressmen and Senators what these coins would look like. These 1856 Flying Eagle Cents were supposed to have been returned to the Mint and destroyed as they had not been intended for release to the public, but some managed to escape destruction. The 1856 coins are quite rare and valuable. In 1858, there was a "large letter" and "small letter" variety produced, with different punches used to letter "United States of America" on two sets of dies. An easy way to tell the difference between large-letter and small-letter varieties is to look at the word 'America'. In the large letter variety, the letters A and M are joined, whereas in the small letter they are not.