Two-Cent Pieces 1864-1873 Coin Guide
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Two-Cent Pieces 1864-1873
Photo courtesy LeeG member of the PCGS boards
From a practical standpoint, the two cent piece was one of the least
successful coins in U.S. history: The United States Mint produced it for
only ten years, and each year the mintage declined, reflecting steadily
falling public interest in the coin. Yet, despite its failure as a medium
of exchange, the two-cent piece made a singular and enduring contribution
to the nation's coinage history, for this was the coin that introduced the
motto IN GOD WE TRUST. The motto and the coin itself were both direct
results of the Civil War.
By the end of 1862, with the war in its 21st month, virtually all U.S.
government coinage had vanished from circulation; hoarders and
speculators-joined by millions of just plain frightened Americans-had set
aside every coin they could get their hands on, including not only gold
and silver pieces but also base-metal issues. Inventive entrepreneurs came
up with a clever replacement: cent-sized bronze tokens, generally bearing
an implied or even explicit promise of redemption in goods, services or
money. These so-called "Civil War tokens" soon gained broad
acceptance as a useful money substitute.
The tokens' success came as a revelation to the Mint; up to then, it
had generally been assumed that Americans wouldn't tolerate money (or
money substitutes) with such small intrinsic value. The tokens proved
otherwise, and the Mint began preparing a modified one-cent piece modeled
after these wartime emergency pieces, a cent that would retain the new and
popular Indian Head design but on a slim, bronze planchet instead of the
thick, copper-nickel one then in use. At the same time, Mint officials
started giving serious thought to a two-cent piece of similar composition,
reasoning that this would alleviate the coin shortage even faster.
On December 8, 1863, Mint Director James Pollock wrote to Treasury
Secretary Salmon P. Chase recommending the issuance of a two-cent piece in
French bronze, the same alloy chosen for the slimmer Indian cent. Pollock
submitted two proposed designs, both by Chief Engraver James B. Longacre,
who also had designed the Indian cent. One bore the head of George
Washington; the other depicted a shield and arrows. Pollock and Chase both
favored the latter.
Up to then, U.S. coinage had carried no reference to a supreme being.
But that was about to change, thanks largely to the strong religious
fervor born of the Civil War. In 1861, a Baptist minister, the Reverend
Mark R. Watkinson of Ridleyville, Pennsylvania, had written a letter to
Secretary Chase urging that provision be made for "the recognition of
the Almighty God in some form on our coins." Said Watkinson:
"This would relieve us from the ignominy of heathenism. This would
place us openly under the Divine protection we have personally
claimed." Clearly, Chase had taken this appeal to heart, for he
specified the inclusion of some such inscription on the two-cent piece.
Watkinson didn't come up with the words IN GOD WE TRUST. On the first
trial striking of the two-cent piece, the motto that appeared was GOD OUR
TRUST. Numismatic scholar Walter Breen theorized that the final form was
influenced by the motto of Chase's alma mater, Brown University: IN DEO
SPERAMUS, a Latin phrase meaning "In God we hope." However it
happened, IN GOD WE TRUST was the version picked in the end.
Congress didn't stipulate the motto in the legislation authorizing the
two-cent piece, which won passage on April 22, 1864. That law simply gave
Treasury officials discretionary authority concerning inscriptions on the
nation's minor coins. On March 3, 1865, this authority was extended to
gold and silver coins and, for the first time, IN GOD WE TRUST was
specifically mentioned. Use of the motto wasn't mandated, however, until
1908; and even then, the order applied only to gold and silver coins. Not
until 1955 did Congress enact legislation requiring the inscription on all
U.S. coins.
On the two-cent piece, IN GOD WE TRUST is displayed on a ribbon above
the shield on the obverse. The date appears directly below the shield. The
reverse bears a simple wreath surrounding the statement of value-2
CENTS-and encircled, in turn, by UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.
Starved for coinage of any kind, Americans readily embraced the
two-cent piece when it made its first appearance in 1864. That year also
witnessed the highwater mark for the coin's production, with nearly 20
million business-strike examples being made. Output was relatively high in
1865, as well, topping 13.6 million. Acceptance and mintage levels both
fell off dramatically after the war, however, as other coins began to
reappear in circulation. Fewer than 3.2 million pieces were struck in 1866
and, by 1870, production plunged below the one million mark. Business
strikes hit rock bottom in 1872, when the Mint issued only 65,000 pieces
for circulation. In 1873, the coin's final year, there were only proofs.
In all, the Mint produced just over 45.6 million business-strikes and
slightly more than 7,000 proofs. The latter were made in each of the
series' 10 years.
Because of its small size and absence of great rarities, this is a set
that even collectors of modest means have a realistic chance of completing
by date and mint (especially considering that only one
mint-Philadelphia-produced this coin). In practice, though, many settle
for collecting the series by type alone.
Although it is unusually short and doesn't include a single branch-mint
issue, the two-cent series does contain some interesting varieties. The
best-known are the Small Motto and Large Motto issues of 1864. On some of
that year's two-cent pieces, IN GOD WE TRUST has noticeably smaller and
fatter lettering. These Small Motto pieces are considerably scarcer than
their Large Motto counterparts and command much higher premiums in every
grade level. There also is a scarce and valuable 1867 doubled-die error,
and the proof-only 1873 issues come in two varieties, with a Closed 3 and
an Open 3 in the date.
On this design, wear first shows on the word WE, the arrow points and
the tips of the leaves. Two-cent pieces are readily available in grades up
to Mint State-65 and Proof-65, but supplies dwindle sharply above that
level. Mint state pieces command higher premiums when they are fully red
in color.
SPECIFICATIONS:
Diameter: 23 millimeters Weight: 6.22 grams Composition: .950 copper,
.050 tin and zinc Edge: Plain
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Breen, Walter, Walter Breen's Complete
Encyclopedia of U.S. and Colonial Coins, F.C.I. Press/Doubleday, New York,
1988. Flynn, Kevin, Getting Your Two Cents Worth, Published by Kevin Flynn
and Robert Paul, Rancocas, NJ, 1994. Taxay, Don, The U.S. Mint and
Coinage, Arco Publishing Co., New York, 1966. Vermeule, Cornelius,
Numismatic Art in America, The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press,
Cambridge, MA, 1971. Yeoman, R.S., A Guide Book of United States Coins,
47th Edition, Western Publishing Co., Racine, WI, 1993.
Coin Information Provided Courtesy NGC.
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