1867 1C Indian Head Cent NGC MS65BN (CAC)

NGC Coin Explorer writes, “1867 is a moderately scarce date across all grades, with most circulated survivors being heavily worn and/or corroded. Mint State pieces are very scarce, with fully red gems being genuinely rare.”

Take this opportunity to acquire an attractive—and affordable—example in the desirable grade of MS65BN. It is much more reasonably priced than one would be in Red Brown or full Red. NGC has graded 27 as MS65BN with only 6 finer. In CAC, there are 11 in MS65BN with just 1 finer. CAC prices the 1867 Indian head cent at $1,250.00 in MS65BN.

James B. Longacre’s sketch of his iconic Indian head cent design. Image: Wikimedia Commons.

The design of the Indian Head cent is quintessentially American. The obverse presents a young female head of Liberty, facing left, hair covering her neck, bedecked with an Indian headdress of eagle feathers. UNITED STATES OF AMERICA surrounds her at the rim, with the date at the bottom. The reverse features an oak wreath and Union shield with ONE CENT within the wreath.

Numismatic art scholar Cornelius Vermeule writes of this series, "the Indian Head cent [achieved] the blessing of popular appeal. The coin became perhaps the most beloved and typically American of any piece great or small in the American series. Great the coin was not, but it was one of the first products of the U.S. mints to achieve the common touch and to identify itself with the transitions from frontier to industrial to social expansion during its decades of circulation, from 1860 to 1930."