Two Cent Pieces (1864–1873)

Stamps, Tokens, and a Practical Demonstration

By the end of 1862, essentially all United States government coinage had left circulation. Gold and silver were hoarded first. The Flying Eagle and Indian Head copper-nickel cents followed, hoarded like every other federal coin by Northerners who feared that paper money might become worthless if the war went badly. Merchants conducted commerce with fractional paper notes, postage stamps repurposed as currency, and cent-sized bronze tokens issued by private businesses, redeemable in goods or services at the issuing shop. These arrangements were imperfect and the tokens were technically illegal, but they worked well enough that people used them.

The private tokens proved something Mint officials found useful: Americans would accept base-metal tokens as money if the issuing authority seemed credible. A government bronze coin of modest value could fill the same gap without relying on the metals that had disappeared. In December 1863, Mint Director James Pollock wrote to Treasury Secretary Salmon P. Chase recommending a two-cent piece in French bronze. Pollock submitted two designs by Chief Engraver James B. Longacre. His letter stated a preference for the shield and arrows over the head of Washington, and the shield design was the one adopted. Congress authorized the new coin on April 22, 1864, and the first pieces were struck that day.¹

A Pennsylvania Minister, a Letter to Chase, and the Motto

On November 13, 1861, the Reverend Mark R. Watkinson, pastor of a Baptist congregation in Ridleyville, Pennsylvania, wrote to Treasury Secretary Chase urging that the nation's coinage be made to acknowledge God. He argued that the absence of any such reference left the Republic open to the charge of heathenism, and that the current national crisis made the omission particularly unseemly. Chase forwarded the suggestion to Pollock and asked him to prepare a motto expressing in the fewest and most direct words the nation's trust in God.²

Several candidates were considered: GOD OUR TRUST, OUR COUNTRY AND OUR GOD, GOD AND OUR COUNTRY. The phrase on the first trial striking was GOD OUR TRUST. Walter Breen suggested that Chase's final choice of IN GOD WE TRUST was influenced by Brown University's Latin motto, IN DEO SPERAMUS ("In God We Hope"), taking Brown to be Chase's alma mater; Chase in fact graduated from Dartmouth College, and the theory rests on inference rather than documentation.³ Chase approved the shield design bearing the new motto in December 1863. The Coinage Act of April 22, 1864, gave Treasury officials discretionary authority over inscriptions on minor coins; the specific wording was Chase's decision, not Congress's.

The motto's subsequent career on American coinage was uneven. Congress extended the authority to place it on gold and silver coins in March 1865, and it appeared on those denominations beginning in 1866. It was not mandatory on gold and silver until 1908, not required on all United States coins and currency until 1955, and not formally declared the national motto, supplanting E PLURIBUS UNUM, until 1956. The two-cent piece of 1864 was the first circulating coin to carry it, struck in bronze while the Civil War was still being fought.

The Design: Arrows, Laurel, and What They Are Doing Together

Longacre placed a Union shield on the obverse, thirteen vertical stripes, with two crossed arrows behind it and laurel branches hanging at either side. A ribbon above bears IN GOD WE TRUST. The crossed arrows imply readiness against attack, and the laurel branches stand for victory. The date sits below the shield. The reverse carries an open wheat wreath enclosing 2 CENTS in two lines, UNITED STATES OF AMERICA around the border. Twenty-three millimeters in diameter, 6.22 grams, plain edge. All two-cent pieces were struck at Philadelphia throughout the series.⁴

Longacre used a closely related shield composition for the Shield Nickel introduced in 1866. On both coins the shield is set over crossed arrows.

Small Motto, Large Motto, and One Very Rare Proof

Production began from prototype dies whose IN GOD WE TRUST lettering was narrower, more compressed, and harder to read than what became standard. Longacre widened and straightened the motto during 1864, producing the Large Motto dies that ran for the rest of the series. The two 1864 varieties are identified by the size and placement of the inscription: on Small Motto pieces the first T in TRUST sits close against the ribbon crease at left and a leaf stem shows below GOD, while on Large Motto pieces the T stands about a millimeter from the crease and the stem is hidden. Large Motto pieces show bolder, more evenly spaced lettering throughout.

Both varieties exist as business strikes and Proofs. The Small Motto business strike is scarce but obtainable in circulated grades. Breen estimated several thousand were struck before the dies were revised.⁵ The Small Motto Proof is another matter: an estimated 20 to 30 survive, making it one of the genuine rarities of Civil War-era American coinage. The Mint did not record the two 1864 varieties separately; their combined business-strike mintage is 19,822,500.

Twenty Million in 1864, Sixty-Five Thousand in 1872

The two-cent piece opened promisingly. Nearly twenty million pieces in 1864, the largest single-year production of any non-cent denomination in American history to that point. Almost fourteen million in 1865. Then the decline. The 1866 mintage fell to approximately 3.2 million. The 1867 to 2.9 million. By 1870 fewer than 900,000, and in 1872, the last circulation year, 65,000 pieces.⁶ The 1873 issue was Proof-only: about 600 Close 3 originals, plus Open 3 pieces, generally considered later restrikes, in an unrecorded number.

Several things worked against the denomination simultaneously. The copper-nickel three-cent piece of 1865 gave the public another base-metal coin for small change, and bank demand for the two-cent piece fell away. The Shield Nickel, introduced in 1866, offered five cents in a single coin, which was simply more useful for small purchases than two cents. And the two-cent piece had a structural problem that no design change could fix: it did nothing that two one-cent coins could not do, it gave no advantage in making change, and it was less convenient than the nickel for anything in the five-cent range. Once the wartime shortage ended and other coins were available, Americans had no use for it.

Building the Set

Nine circulation dates, 1864 through 1872, plus the Proof-only 1873. Collectors who want both 1864 varieties bring the total to eleven pieces. Every coin from Philadelphia, no mint marks to track, no branch-mint complications. The series is compact, and for a collector who wants a coin from the Civil War era without committing to a multi-decade series, it is hard to improve on.

Type collectors need one coin. The 1864 Large Motto and 1865 business strikes are the most available, accessible in grades from Good through Extremely Fine at modest cost. Uncirculated examples present more difficulty than their mintages suggest. A great many coins in the market described as Uncirculated are Extremely Fine pieces that have been cleaned to a bright orange surface; original mint luster on undisturbed copper is the standard worth holding out for, and it is considerably rarer than the nominal supply of bright-looking examples implies.

The 1872 is the key date: 65,000 pieces, significant premium in all grades. The 1873 Proof is essential for a complete date set and available at collector prices commensurate with its Proof status, though uncommon. The 1864 Small Motto Proof, with an estimated 20 to 30 surviving, is a major rarity and priced accordingly. Die varieties beyond the Small Motto and Large Motto distinction are catalogued in Kliman's specialist reference; the 1867 doubled die obverse showing visible doubling on IN GOD WE TRUST is the most recognized variety beyond the first-year issues.

Buy problem-free original-surface coins. The denomination had a short enough production run that the total supply of genuinely high-grade unprocessed examples is limited, and the market for this series has been stable enough that quality holds its value reliably. A circulated 1865 with original chocolate-brown surfaces is a better purchase at the same price than a "red" 1865 that has been cleaned back to bright copper.