The obverse of Flying Eagle Cents features an eagle in flight, with its wings outstretched. The reverse of the coins features a wreath of corn, cotton, and wheat, surrounding the phrase “One Cent” in the center. The Flying Eagle Cent was designed to be smaller than its predecessor, the Large Cent, in an effort to make it easier to mint more coins from less metal. As a result, these coins are smaller than most modern day pennies, measuring 17.5 mm in diameter.
The Flying Eagle Cent was struck for only three years, from 1856 to 1858, for a total of 89 million coins. Of those, only 3.2 million were minted with the “Small Letter” variety, making them some of the most sought-after and valuable coins in American numismatics. The Flying Eagle Cent is an important piece of U.S. numismatic history, and is a must-have for any coin collector.
The 1858 Large Letters Flying Eagle Cent coin, struck at the Philadelphia, Pennsylvania mint, and engraved by James Barton Longacre. Made of copper-nickel (.880 copper, .120 nickel), weighing 4.67 grams, with a diameter of 19 mm, and featuring a plain edge.
The obverse is an eagle in flight with the country name above and the date below. It reads “UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
1856”. The reverse is value within wreath. It reads “ONE
CENT”.
