1857 Flying Eagle Cent - Brunk O-59 Oil of Ice

Coin Details

Description

This 1857 Flying Eagle Cent bears a merchant counterstamp attributed to Oil of Ice, cataloged as Brunk O-59. Counterstamps were applied to circulating coins by merchants, silversmiths, and tradesmen as a form of portable advertising — the business card of early America. The Oil of Ice stamp was punched into the coin after it left the Mint, repurposing it as a merchant advertising piece. The host coin is a 1857 cent from the Flying Eagle Cents 1856-1858 series. The host coin's original mintage was 17.4 million, though counterstamped examples represent only a tiny fraction of survivors. Struck in 88% copper, 12% nickel, weighing 4.7 grams, 19 mm in diameter. Cataloged as PCGS #961331. Counterstamped coins documented in Gregory G. Brunk's "American and Canadian Countermarked Coins" sit at the intersection of numismatics and Americana — each piece is a primary-source historical document of early American commerce. The counterstamp adds a unique layer of provenance that distinguishes this coin from all other examples of its type.