Newspaper from February 1857 featuring the "new" Flying Eagle Cent"!

[AnkurJ]

What I love about numismatics is that there are so many different ways to collect. Here is one of those examples.

This is a Harpers Weekly Newspaper from 2/7/1857. It featured an article along with images of a 1856 flying eagle cent! A nice glimpse into what the author and possibly the public thought of the large cents which had been around for over 60 years.

 

 

Feel free to post any exames of coins in newspapers that you might have.

thanks for looking!

Ankur

[brg5658]

I gather when they say it looks like a goose that it wasn't very well received.

 

Cool article clipping.

[Hurricane4911-migration]

Interesting article.

Do we have room for a sticky thread of such research & postings?

[CaptHenway]

The writer seems to have a poor understanding of fractions. He says that at one time the intrinsic value of the cent was 1/50th of a dollar, which would be two cents. He says that it has since risen to 1/86th of a dollar, which would be much closer to one cent.

[Mr.Mcknowitall]

The writer seems to have a poor understanding of fractions. He says that at one time the intrinsic value of the cent was 1/50th of a dollar, which would be two cents. He says that it has since risen to 1/86th of a dollar, which would be much closer to one cent.

 

Intrinsic value?

[Bob Flaminio]

The writer seems to have a poor understanding of fractions. He says that at one time the intrinsic value of the cent was 1/50th of a dollar, which would be two cents. He says that it has since risen to 1/86th of a dollar, which would be much closer to one cent.

 

I read that bit over and over, and I think I figured out what the meaning is. I think what the author is saying is that the old large copper cents were once worth 0.50 cents in copper (half a cent), but that had risen to 0.86 cents. The danger is that once it passes one cent they become more valuable as raw metal than as money, and people will melt them down.

 

The new small cupro-nickel cent would be worth only 0.65 cents in metal, and hopefully hold this off for some time.

 

I think....

 

It's a great article regardless.

[Mr.Mcknowitall]

It is intrinsic value...at the time and place in History, as a comparative.

There is nothing wrong with the fractions.

[Bob Flaminio]

It is intrinsic value...at the time and place in History, as a comparative.

There is nothing wrong with the fractions.

Can you elaborate? Why would the "heightened value of copper" cause the intrinsic value to rise to a smaller fraction?

[Mr.Mcknowitall]

If we read the article very carefully, the explanation and the use of intrinsic value is described.

 

As to the actual values at the time, converted into intrinsic value, there are actuarial tables that are on the internet, and the math can be done by plugging in the known values at the period in question.

 

It is not my intent to derail the intent of the Post, which is a very interesting article and a snapshot in time.

[Bob Flaminio]

If we read the article very carefully, the explanation and the use of intrinsic value is described.

 

As to the actual values at the time, converted into intrinsic value, there are actuarial tables that are on the internet, and the math can be done by plugging in the known values at the period in question.

 

It is not my intent to derail the intent of the Post, which is a very interesting article and a snapshot in time.

Clearly you're a much more clever fellow than I, but I still don't understand the fractions (aside from my WAG post above).

 

Perhaps I don't know what "intrinsic value" means. I presumed it was the value of the metal content of the coin (versus the face value).

 

Just hoping for some education here...

[Mr.Mcknowitall]

Composition.

[Bob Flaminio]

Composition.

Thanks for the help.

[RWB]

Interesting article written before the small CuNi cent was approved.

[TonerGuy]

Hard to tell the context but it appears the author is advocating for the elimination of the cent as well... 160 yrs and still we are stuck with the penny!

 

Also I like how the author complained about the composition and how it will no longer have the appearance of a "red cent." Not much different then the arguments against the "golden dollar."

 

The more things change the more they stay the same...