Indian Head Cent 1871 G-VG

Citizenry of the United States grew widely in 1871, however, not due to immigration or because anyone wanted to necessarily become Americans. The Congress passed the Indian Appropriation Act in 1871 stating that tribes would no longer be recognized as separate nations rather Native Americans would be recognized as individuals by the US Government. The United States’ largest cities saw many disasters in the year 1871. The city of Chicago burned for two days killing scores and making 90,000 homeless. Christian religious tensions grew in New York City causing a riot killing over 30 and later the Staten Island Ferry exploded killing over 70.

This was a very tough year for the Indian Head cent. Less than four million pennies were minted and this year the Mint was given legal authority to melt old non-bullion coins. The coins the Mint aimed to melt were those with a bullion value far below the legal tender of the coins. Close to one hundred million cents would be melted by the US Mint in the 1870’s. This makes the 1871 Indian Head cent a very valuable coin today. It is one of the rarest in the series because many even newly minted coins were brought back directly to the Mint to be melted. Therefore those that did not get melted stayed in circulation for a long time and today most specimens are well worn.

As the 1870 Indian Head cent, this year’s issue too has the Shallow N and Bold N varieties. However, this year’s Shallow N is a very rare coin as only a small number were minted with this variety. However, the proof issue of this date includes both variety types, yet there are unfortunately no strong mirrored examples of either variety. There are few other popular varieties this year. There is a misplaced digit variety, along with some other die varieties, however none very popular.

• Denomination: Cent
• Year: 1871
• Diameter: 19mm
• Mint Mark: N/A
• Thickness: 1.5mm
• Grade: Ungraded