20th

This is my 20th letter as president, or another look at 1864 issues.

Another winter of coin shows is coming to a close. If you’re a full-time or part-time dealer, it was a prime time to “make hay while the sun shone”. If you’re a collector at heart, like myself, you may have found yourself feeling like an anorexic hen trying to find a few good morsels on the bourse floor. I certainly don’t bring a wheelbarrow to the shows in search of rarities, and I still can’t seem to spend hardly anything. At the recent Baltimore Show I found one, yes just one, decent upgrade for my variety collection while the rest of my pocket was labeled “eBay”.

That one coin is featured here, and it’s a good segway into my letter. A few times over the years I have mentioned my favorite year for the Indian cent series is 1888, with the 1864 BR issues right behind this somewhere. Well, having matured a few years and owning a larger patch of gray hair, I find myself reconsidering this statement. I now find 1864 Bronze issues to be the most appealing to me of the entire series. Why? Let me explain.

1864 Bronze issues have it all for the collector. Consider the following:

1. Doubled Die. There’s a great doubled die in Snow-1. That is, if you can find one, as it is very rare in high grade.
2. Repunched Dates. While not as choice of an issue as the 1864-L for great repunched dates, there’s still a couple of decent examples, including the doubled die mentioned above (look at the “4”).
3. Cuds. Once the Mint quit minting copper-nickel cents, the incidence of cuds greatly diminished. However, 1864 Bronze stands out as one the few dates that has several decent-sized cuds. I still remember years ago, probably in the early 1990’s going to the Michigan State Show and one of the last tables I visited had a choice textbook chocolate brown XF45+ 1864 Bronze issue in the case. Just a gorgeous coin in and of itself. I’ve heard over the years many other collectors say they occasionally have a clairvoyant moment when they just know something is going to turn up at a certain show or certain table. And I’m here to tell you that when I looked at this piece I had a strong feeling the reverse would have a nice cud, so when I turned it over it was no surprise. Because the coin was so choice I probably would have bought it anyway, but this just made it a no-brainer. I was shocked it made it until the end of the show. I have included a photo with this letter.
4. Errors. It’s hard to imagine but 1864-L dated Indian Cent errors are actually more abundant than the higher-mintage 1864Br issues. The truly rare 1864 issue for finding any errors is the 1864CN issues—really tough here! I am not sure why this is so, as the no-L’s were minted before the “With L” varieties so any manufacturing bugs should have been taken care of before any 1864-L issues were struck. Still, I have come across several nice 1864 Bronze errors, including the 80% off center shown here. This coin is very similar to one recently auctioned by Heritage from member Larry Rausch’s collection. His showed a nice 90-degree die rotation on the reverse was was an extremely choice example of a Mint state error. I didn’t bid on it because I had this piece which, while very similar is from a different die pair. I liked the grade on my coin more by 2 points or so, the die rotation didn’t excite me all that much, and I paid a lot less than the almost $2000 pricetag the Rausch piece sold for. And hey, on top of this my 1864BR was struck from the concentric circle die (see below).
5. Unusual and esoteric. There are a few issues for 1864 Bronze that are virtually unique to the series. There’s the “Moustache” variety, shown below. Try finding one of these!!! Ultra rare. Then there’s the 1864 Concentric die circle varieties. Actually there are at least two different dies known with this phenomena, most likely a result of turning lathe marks not properly polished out prior to hubbing. While this effect is rare on Indian cents, it is more commonly seen on 1866 Shield nickels. The nicer of the two known dies is shown here—this is the piece I picked up at the Baltimore Show and grades a nice MS64 RB with bold polishing lines showing.
6. MPD’s. The one and only area 1864 is weak as a date is misplaced digits—as I don’t have any examples, but Marv Erickson says he has four different MPD’s in his collection.

All things considered, 1864 is one heckuva great year to collect. The 1864BR issues in MS63 are still very affordable and offer opportunity at just about every show for finding a great piece, so keep your eyes peeled!!! If any member has an 1864 story to share email our editor at:

Fly-In Club Editor
Frank Leone
P.O. Box 170
Glen Oaks, NY 11004 email: flrc@aol.com
If you would like to share any thoughts, my new email address is: cpilliod@msn.com