The 1859 Indian Head cent — the very first year of the series, struck in copper-nickel with a one-year laurel wreath reverse that was never used again. This coin grades About Good to Good by our in-house estimate: the date is fully legible, the portrait outline is present, and the laurel wreath reverse is identifiable, but both sides carry heavy wear with environmental porosity and corrosion throughout. Fully photographed and honestly described — what you see is what ships.

Coin detail:

• Date/Mint: 1859-P (Philadelphia — no mintmark on any Indian Head cent)
• Composition: Copper-nickel — 88% copper, 12% nickel (this alloy used only 1859–1863; bronze began 1864)
• Reverse Type: Laurel wreath — the unique one-year design used only in 1859; replaced by the oak wreath and shield reverse beginning in 1860
• Obverse: Date 1859 fully readable; portrait outline and headdress feathers present as outlines; heavy wear throughout; significant environmental porosity and surface corrosion on both sides — see all photos
• Reverse: ONE CENT legible; wreath outline present but mostly smooth from advanced wear; environmental porosity consistent with obverse

Curiosity Coins in-house estimate: About Good to Good. This is a well-worn, problem-surface example — we are not grading around the condition. The date reads clearly, the type is unmistakable, and the first-year significance is real regardless of grade. Collectors building type sets or first-year collections actively seek the 1859 laurel wreath cent in any grade; examples in this condition represent the most accessible entry point into a genuinely historic one-year type.

The year 1859 was one of the most charged in American history. John Brown raided Harpers Ferry in October, pushing a nation already fracturing over slavery toward the edge of civil war. Charles Darwin published On the Origin of Species. Edwin Drake struck oil in Titusville, Pennsylvania, launching the American petroleum industry. And at the Philadelphia Mint, James B. Longacre's new Indian Head cent rolled off the presses for the first time — a small copper-nickel coin that would circulate through the Civil War, Reconstruction, the Gilded Age, and beyond. This 1859 coin was minted the year before the war that would tear the country apart.

Longacre's design features Liberty wearing a Native American feathered headdress — not an actual Native American, but a romanticized symbol of the American continent. The 1859 reverse paired this portrait with a simple laurel wreath encircling ONE CENT, a design borrowed from classical antiquity. Public feedback prompted the Mint to revise the reverse for 1860, adding oak leaves, berries, and a Union shield at the top — making the 1859 the only year the original, simpler design was ever used. Type collectors have sought it ever since.

Curiosity Coins — Medway, Massachusetts | Est. 1999 | ANA • PCGS • NGC • Heritage Auctions Member / Buying & selling US and world coins, silver, gold, currency, and collectibles since 1999. Many auctions start at $5 — combined shipping always available. Questions welcome.