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Two-Cent Pieces

James B. Longacre designed the two-cent piece, and the coin is remembered today less for its brief commercial life than for a four-word phrase on its obverse. IN GOD WE TRUST appeared on the two-cent piece in 1864, the first time the motto had been used on any United States coin. The idea had been circulating for a couple of years. Reverend Mark R. Watkinson of Ridleyville, Pennsylvania wrote to Treasury Secretary Salmon P. Chase in November 1861 suggesting that God be recognized on the national coinage, and Chase, who was sympathetic to the idea and not above a little public piety during a national crisis, directed Mint Director James Pollock to prepare suitable designs. Longacre went through several iterations before settling on the final arrangement, with the motto arched above a federal shield on the obverse. The reverse carried a wreath enclosing the denomination 2 CENTS, simple and legible. The shield-and-motto obverse gave the coin a heavier symbolic weight than its two-cent face value might suggest, and the religious inscription would eventually migrate to every other denomination in the series, though that process took decades.

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1864–1872 Years struck
25 Date / variety entries
Philadelphia only Mints

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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
1864 Large Motto 19,847,500 $17$17$20$28$45$65$94 REGULAR CK-905
1864 Small Motto 19,847,500 $205$265$325$435$605$810$990 KEY CK-907
1865 13,640,000 $17$17$20$28$45$65$94 REGULAR CK-908
1865 Fancy 5 VARIETY CK-914
1865 Plain 5 VARIETY CK-915
1866 3,177,000 $17$17$20$28$45$65$96 REGULAR CK-919
1867 2,938,750 $20$25$28$36$48$73$105 REGULAR CK-922
1867 Doubled Die Obverse $100$126$162$305$560$940$1,625 VARIETY CK-928
1868 2,803,750 $20$33$45$40$59$86$121 REGULAR CK-933
1869 1,546,500 $25$33$40$53$67$100$126 REGULAR CK-937
1870 861,250 $33$40$53$96$162$325$470 SEMI-KEY CK-945
1871 721,250 $36$42$48$67$121$162$225 SEMI-KEY CK-951
1872 65,000 $325$415$515$690$905$1,465$2,645 KEY CK-958
Date Variety Mintage Price Guide Estimates Classification CK #
G (PR) VG (PR) F (PR) VF (PR) EF (PR) AU (PR) MS (PR)
1864 Large Motto 19,847,500 KEY CK-904
1864 Small Motto 19,847,500 KEY CK-906
1865 13,640,000 KEY CK-909
1866 725 KEY CK-918
1867 625 KEY CK-923
1868 600 KEY CK-932
1869 600 KEY CK-939
1870 1,000 KEY CK-947
1871 960 KEY CK-948
1872 950 $1,055 KEY CK-955
1873 Closed 3 600 $3,400 KEY CK-962
1873 Open 3 600 $3,255 KEY CK-965