1864 Small Motto

The 1864 Small Motto two-cent piece is the first United States coin to bear the motto IN GOD WE TRUST, and it carries that motto in a form the Mint abandoned almost immediately. The two-cent piece was authorized by the Coinage Act of April 22, 1864, the same legislation that changed the cent from copper-nickel to bronze. James B. Longacre, the Mint's Chief Engraver, designed both coins. The obverse of the two-cent piece shows a federal shield with crossed arrows and an olive branch; the ribbon across the top of the shield carries the motto. No American coin had ever carried a religious inscription before.

The motto's origin is documented in correspondence. On November 13, 1861, Reverend Mark R. Watkinson of Ridleyville, Pennsylvania, wrote to Treasury Secretary Salmon P. Chase suggesting that God should be recognized on American coinage during the Civil War. Watkinson asked whether future historians would "rightly reason from our past that we were a heathen nation" if the Republic fell. Chase was moved enough to instruct Mint Director James Pollock to prepare designs. Pollock, appointed by Lincoln in 1861, initially proposed "GOD OUR TRUST" or "OUR COUNTRY; OUR GOD" as the inscription. Chase revised both, writing back: "On the two-cent coin with the shield, it should be changed so as to read IN GOD WE TRUST." The final language drew from the fourth stanza of The Star-Spangled Banner: "And this be our motto, In God is our trust."

The Small Motto variety uses smaller, more compact lettering in the motto, the result of the initial die design before Longacre enlarged the inscription for better legibility. Both the Small Motto and Large Motto were struck in 1864, but the Small Motto was produced in far smaller quantity before being replaced. PCGS estimates roughly 1,500 survive across all grades, with most in circulated condition. The diagnostic is the size of the letters in IN GOD WE TRUST relative to the ribbon they occupy. On Small Motto coins, the letters are shorter and set farther from the edges of the ribbon.

Identification can be tricky on worn coins, where the lettering size distinction blurs. A more reliable diagnostic involves the D in GOD: on the Small Motto, the D is noticeably smaller than the other letters. Certification services attribute the variety. Any 1864 two-cent piece commanding a Small Motto premium should carry a PCGS or NGC holder confirming the attribution. The price difference between Small Motto and Large Motto is substantial at every grade level, and unverified coins are not worth the premium.

In Good to Fine, the 1864 Small Motto trades in the mid-three-figure range. Very Fine pushes higher. Uncirculated examples with original red-brown or red color command several thousand dollars, and a gem MS66 Red-Brown sold for $14,950 at Bowers and Merena in 2002. Proof Small Mottos are among the rarest pieces in the entire two-cent piece series, with only about 30 struck and fewer than 30 known today. One PR65 Brown proof brought $54,050 at Stack's Bowers in 2017.

The motto had been the subject of experimental pattern coinage the previous year. Several 1863 two-cent patterns exist with various candidate inscriptions, including "GOD AND OUR COUNTRY" and "GOD OUR TRUST" alongside early versions of "IN GOD WE TRUST." Pollock also proposed a George Washington portrait instead of the shield, but decided against it (Washington had been a republican symbol the Mint had carefully avoided since the 1790s). The shield and arrows design won out, and IN GOD WE TRUST won out among the motto candidates. Every inscription of those four words on every American coin since 1864 traces back to this coin. The motto was not federally mandated on all US coinage until 1955.