1877

The 1877 Indian Head cent is the undisputed key date of the series. The reported mintage of 852,500 coins is by far the lowest of any Indian Head date. Only two obverse dies and a single reverse die are known for the entire production, far too few to produce the stated mintage under normal conditions. Some researchers believe the published figure is inflated and may include cents from other years that were redistributed in 1877. The Depression of 1873, now in its fourth year, had so thoroughly suppressed demand for coinage that nearly 10 million cents were returned to the Mint as unneeded in commerce. The Treasury reissued 9,821,500 of those redeemed coins instead of striking new ones.

The low mintage alone does not fully explain the 1877's scarcity. The few thousand collectors active in the 1870s simply purchased proofs and disregarded the rarity of circulation pieces. The coins that entered commerce circulated hard in an economy where every cent counted. People in the grip of a six-year depression did not set aside coins for future collectors. Most surviving examples are in lower circulated grades. Good to Very Good is the typical condition. A problem-free Fine is a coin that commands serious money. The finest known circulation strikes, graded MS66 Red, have sold for as much as $149,500 at Heritage Auctions.

The 1877 is the coin that defines value in the Indian Head series. It is the first coin most people learn about when they begin collecting Indian Heads, the date they check for when sorting through old accumulations, and the one coin whose absence from a collection is felt most acutely. Everything else in the series can be assembled with moderate effort and budget. The 1877 requires both.

Counterfeits and altered dates are a significant concern. The coin's high value incentivizes fraud. Altered-date coins, where the digits of a common-year cent have been tooled to resemble 1877, are known and circulate in the market. Any 1877 Indian Head cent purchased at key-date pricing should carry certification from PCGS or NGC. The cost of authentication is a fraction of the coin's value, and buying uncertified at this price level is an unnecessary risk.