Coin reference › Top 20 Indian Head cents
Top 20 Indian Head cents
The Indian Head cent ran from 1859 to 1909 and its keys sit in the 1870s, where mintages collapsed and survivors are genuinely scarce rather than merely old. An old coin is not a rare one, and this series is where that distinction is learned.
Photographing these
Copper of this age tones unpredictably; photograph it under neutral light and resist correcting the colour, because the toning is part of what somebody is judging.
The difficulty
The problem with Indian Head cents is toning. A century of copper oxidation produces colours from bright red to near-black, and colour is the first thing anybody judges from a photograph - usually wrongly, because the camera's white balance decided it.
The bench records what the sensor saw under a light you set, and stores those settings inside the file. Two coins photographed a month apart are comparable because the conditions are recorded rather than remembered. And it never tells you what a coin is made of from its colour, because colour is not composition - a toned silver coin, a plated cent and a counterfeit photograph alike.
| Coin | Year | Mintage | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1864 P With L | Indian Head cent | 1864 | N/A | Date / mint / design issue |
| 1867 P | Indian Head cent | 1867 | 9,821,000 | Date / mint / design issue |
| 1868 P | Indian Head cent | 1868 | 10,266,500 | Date / mint / design issue |
| 1869 P | Indian Head cent | 1869 | 6,420,000 | Date / mint / design issue |
| 1869 P 9 Over 9 | Indian Head cent | 1869 | N/A | Error / die variety |
| 1870 P Bold N | Indian Head cent | 1870 | N/A | Date / mint / design issue |
| 1870 P Shallow N | Indian Head cent | 1870 | 5,275,000 | Date / mint / design issue |
| 1871 P Bold N | Indian Head cent | 1871 | N/A | Date / mint / design issue |
| 1871 P Shallow N | Indian Head cent | 1871 | 3,929,500 | Date / mint / design issue |
| 1872 P Bold N | Indian Head cent | 1872 | N/A | Date / mint / design issue |
| 1872 P Shallow N | Indian Head cent | 1872 | 4,042,000 | Date / mint / design issue |
| 1873 P Closed 3 | Indian Head cent | 1873 | N/A | Date / mint / design issue |
| 1873 P Double Liberty | Indian Head cent | 1873 | N/A | Die variety: doubling |
| 1876 P | Indian Head cent | 1876 | 7,944,000 | Date / mint / design issue |
| 1877 P | Indian Head cent | 1877 | 852,500 | Date / mint / design issue |
| 1878 P | Indian Head cent | 1878 | 5,799,850 | Date / mint / design issue |
| 1888 P Last 8 Over 7 | Indian Head cent | 1888 | N/A | Error / die variety |
| 1894 P Double Date | Indian Head cent | 1894 | N/A | Die variety: doubling |
| 1908 S | Indian Head cent | 1908 | 1,115,000 | Date / mint / design issue |
| 1909 S | Indian Head cent | 1909 | 309,000 | Date / mint / design issue |
What to look for
The 1877 above all, the 1909-S at the end of the run, and the overdates. Diamonds on the ribbon and the feather tips are the wear points that decide grade.
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Compiled 2026-09-15. Mintages and designations are matters of record; which coins are worth a second look is an editorial judgement, and this page says so rather than pretending otherwise.
