Flying Eagle Cents
The Flying Eagle cent was minted from 1857 to 1858. The coin was designed by James B. Longacre. The Flying Eagle was the first small-sized cent coin minted in the US, replacing the earlier large cent. The United States Mint in Philadelphia struck between 1000 and 2000 Flying Eagle cents in 1856 as pattern pieces, a way to show influential congressmen and senators what these coins would look like. These 1856 Flying Eagle Cents were supposed to have been returned to the Mint and destroyed as they had not been intended for release to the public, but some managed to escape destruction. The 1856 coins are quite rare and valuable. (read more below listings)
 Cull 1858 Flying Eagle Cent RL 816 $14.99 |
 1858 Flying Eagle Cent RL 801 $21.99 |
 Cull 1858 Flying Eagle Cent RL 817 $16.99 |
 1858 Flying Eagle Cent Collection Ready RL 403 $29.99 |
 1858 Flying Eagle Cent Decent Coin RL 404 $29.99 |
 U S Flying Eagle Cent 1858 Large Letters $20.00 |
 1857 Flying Eagle Cent SMALL CENT b318 $9.95 |
 1857 Flying Eagle Cent ANACS VF35 Light Brown Honest Wear $115.00 |
 RARE 1857 1 CENT FLYING EAGLE DDO SNOW 14 $227.50 |
 1857 Flying Eagle Cent Extra Fine $110.00 |
 1858 one cent flying eagle coin NO RESERVE $17.51 |
 1857 FLYING EAGLE CENT Old Coin Collection NO RESERVE $16.00 |
 1858 Flying Eagle Cent Counterstamped W S Dyer $22.50 |
 1858 SL FLYING EAGLE CENT VF XF + BONUS COINS $21.51 |
 1857 2 1858 Flying Eagle Cents Lot of 3 $20.50 |
 NGC RARE XF+ 1857 Flying Eagle Cent DDO Double Die ERROR FS 101 SNOW 4 IC $224.00 |
 1858 LG LET Flying Eagle Cent VF+ $79.00 |
 1858 US UNITED STATES FLYING EAGLE FINE CONDITION ONE CENT 1 COIN $39.99 |
The Flying Eagle Cents minted from 1859 to 1864 were struck in an alloy of 88% copper and 12% nickel, giving the coins a much whiter sheen than contemporary one-cent pieces. These nickel-alloy one-cent pieces were slangily known as "nickels".
The early demise of the series was the result of two things. First of all, two high points of the coin were in the same area on each side of the coin, so that when they were struck, it caused a weakness in strike on those points. The second thing was that Longacre could not carve out the dies properly, as he was mostly a painter, not a sculptor.
