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Flying Eagle Cents

James Barton Longacre designed the Flying Eagle cent, drawing on work he had been doing at the Mint for over a decade. Longacre had succeeded Christian Gobrecht as Chief Engraver in 1844, and while his tenure produced some notable designs, including the gold dollar and double eagle, he was not universally admired for his engraving skills. Mint Director James Ross Snowden and others at the Mint had their doubts about Longacre's abilities, and the internal politics surrounding the new small cent were complicated. The flying eagle on the reverse was adapted from Gobrecht's soaring eagle that had appeared on the 1836-1839 Gobrecht dollars, a design Longacre modified for the smaller format. The obverse, which became the reverse in production (the eagle side was technically the obverse per Mint convention, though collectors have always treated it the other way around), featured a wreath of agricultural products enclosing ONE CENT. Longacre's eagle worked reasonably well as a design, though the high points of the eagle's breast and tail feathers would prove troublesome in production, a problem that nobody fully solved during the coin's brief life.

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1856–1858 Years struck
9 Date / variety entries

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Key date Semi-key Variety Proof Regular
Date Variety Mintage Price Guide Estimates Classification CK #
G VG F VF EF AU MS
1857 Flying Eagle 17,450,000 $25$36$45$53$115$172$435 REGULAR CK-299
1858 1858/7 Strong VARIETY CK-302
1858 1858/(7) Weak $80$100$162$360$690$1,135$3,210 VARIETY CK-301
1858 Large Letters 24,600,000 $25$36$45$53$115$172$435 REGULAR CK-303
1858 Small Letters 24,600,000 $25$36$45$53$126$215$470 REGULAR CK-306
Date Variety Mintage Price Guide Estimates Classification CK #
G (PR) VG (PR) F (PR) VF (PR) EF (PR) AU (PR) MS (PR)
1856 Flying Eagle $18,600 KEY CK-298
1857 Flying Eagle 485 KEY CK-300
1858 Large Letters 24,600,000 KEY CK-304
1858 Small Letters 24,600,000 KEY CK-305