Flying Eagle Cents
In 1856, about 1000 Flying Eagle cents were made. This was the first small cent coin introduced to replace Large cents and any other old silver coins from other countries. In its first full year of production in 1857, over 17 million were produced. Given the large volume produced combined with a program at the Philadelphia Mint to exchange Large cents and foreign silver coins, a large quantity of the new Flying Eagle cents were in circulation quickly.
However, the coins proved unpopular with the public for various reasons. Given the large numbers, many people had more Flying Eagles than they could use, others did not like the smaller size, and still some just did not like the look of the coin. Ultimately, the Flying Eagle cent had a short lived two year life span.
Ironically, the Flying Eagle is now considered a very eye-catching coin. The simple Flying Eagle design was created by James Longacre who went on to design the Indian Head cent which replaced the Flying Eagle in 1859.
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