1858 Flying Eagle Cent - Large Letters Low Leaves FS-901

Coin Details

Description

Cataloged as FS-901 in the Fivaz-Stanton reference, this 1858 Flying Eagle cent variety features the Large Letters obverse — where the date numerals and legends are rendered in a larger, bolder font — paired with a reverse where the leaves beneath the letters "C" and "T" in CENT sit lower than their standard position on Large Letters reverses, instead matching the leaf placement typically found on Small Letters reverses. The Philadelphia Mint struck 24,600,000 Flying Eagle cents dated 1858 in all; how many came from this die pairing is not recorded. The Flying Eagle cent was replaced by the Indian Head cent in 1859. The cross-type die combination documents the practical reality of mid-19th-century Mint operations, where obverse and reverse dies were not always kept in strict matching pairs, and working dies from different hub generations could be combined when replacements were needed during production runs. James B. Longacre's Flying Eagle design, featuring a soaring eagle on the obverse and a wreath with denomination on the reverse, was the first small-format cent in American coinage history, replacing the large copper cents that had circulated since 1793.

Cross References

FS-901