← Back to articles · Hobby & visiting shops ·
Indian Head cents: 1859 to 1909, and the dates that are not a coffee-can coin
Indian Head cents ran 1859–1909. Most later bronze dates are common. 1877, 1908-S, and 1909-S are the keys. 1859 has a laurel wreath and no shield; 1860 on has an oak wreath and a shield. They are not automatically more valuable than a wheat penny just because the headdress looks older.
An Indian Head cent is the US one-cent piece struck 1859 through 1909. Liberty in a feathered headdress — not a portrait of a specific person. James B. Longacre designed it. Same diameter as a later Lincoln.
1859 reverse: laurel wreath, no shield. 1860 on: oak wreath and a small shield. 1864 switched from copper-nickel (the thick, pale “white cents,” 1859–1864) to the familiar bronze.
Common vs the ones we pull
Common 1880s–1907 bronze Indians: a couple of dollars worn, more if they are sharp and original. Dates we pull: 1877 (the key), 1908-S and 1909-S (first San Francisco cents), plus better early copper-nickel dates and 1872. A 1901 or 1907 in a jar is not a 1877.
The 1909 Indian and the 1909 Lincoln overlap. A 1909-S VDB is a Lincoln, not an Indian. Wheat key dates.
Extra history
The “Indian” is Liberty wearing a headdress — 19th-century design language, the same impulse as the later Buffalo. Copper-nickel cents (1859–1864) feel thicker in the hand. People call them white cents. They are not nickels.
What a shop pays
Common bronze: a small collector bid. Keys: a real number if the date is sharp. Dark, pitted, or cleaned: less. Don’t clean. Old is not rare.
A jar of mixed Indians and wheats: we dump, we date, we pull 1877 / 1908-S / 1909-S Indians and the wheat keys. The rest of the Indians go in the type bowl. Flying Eagle cents (1856–1858) in that same jar are a different, shorter series — 1856 is the one that makes us slow down.
Dateless Indians still show the headdress. They are not Buffalo nickels. They are not tokens.
People also ask
Is every Indian Head rare? No. They made tens of millions of the late dates.
Is 1909 the key? 1909-S Indian is a key. 1909 Philadelphia is not.
Are they silver? No. Copper-nickel early, bronze later.
Continue in the coin and money library. Related visitor guides: for shop visitors.
Date list: Indian Head key dates.