Indian Head Cent Value (1859–1909)

A full price chart of Indian pennies and more content will be added to this page soon!

The 1859 Indian cent replaced the short-lived Flying Eagle coin. Struck from the same 88%/12% copper-nickel alloy as that coin, the Indian cent saw the same problems with weak strikes. The composition and weight of the Indian cent was changed to a 3.11 gram alloy of 95% copper, 5% tin and zinc, in 1864. These specifications would last until the 1982 Lincoln Memorial cent.

The "Indian" on the Indian cent is once again a Caucasian Lady Liberty in an imaginary Native American war bonnet. At least this time, an attempt was made to make Liberty and the headdress look plausible. The Indian cent was the first one cent coin to be struck in a branch U.S. Mint. The San Francisco Mint struck Indian cents in 1908 and 1909.