Indian Head Cent 1882 G-VG

Policies from 1882 still reverberate today. Congress at the time passed an Immigration Act, charging all new immigrants landing at American ports 50 cents. Authorities at the ports also held the right to deny entry to convicts and those thought likely to become a public charge. The notorious Chinese Exclusion of 1880 came into effect this year. John Rockefeller incorporated his Standard Oil Trust in the year 1882. At this point, an amazing 95% of the petroleum business was controlled by the Trust. P.T. Barnum purchased Jumbo the elephant, wowing crowds all over the country, and to this day the term jumbo is still used to convey anything of unusually large size. In the underbelly of the country, the outlaw Jesse James was shot and killed by his friend for a cash bounty reward, so it goes, money talks.

The mintage for the 1882 Indian Head cent stayed consistent with the two prior years at roughly 40,000,000 cents. Because of the consistently high mintage figures from these three years, most cents in circulation were all from the 1880’s. Although the US Mint was still redeeming older cents, by this time, the Mint was only accepting copper-nickel or damaged pennies. This year’s issue was in circulation for a long time. By the time it was removed from circulation, many were in low grades, and today this year is hard to find attractive examples.

This year’s proof issues is actually one of the easier years to collect. For the third year in a row, proof mintages for the 1882 Indian Head cent was above 3,000. The mirror finish is typically strong from this year and many specimens have an attractive blue toning. There is one popular variety from this year. The base of the digit “1” is seen punched multiple times on the obverse. This is a very popular, yet very difficult variety to find. If you have any questions regarding the Indian Head Cent or varieties, please contact any of our knowledgeable staff at 800-735-1311, and we’ll be happy to assist you!

• Denomination: Cent
• Year: 1882
• Diameter: 19 mm
• Mint Mark: N/A
• Thickness: 1.5 mm
• Grade: Ungraded