1856 Flying Eagle Cent. Snow-9. Proof-45 (PCGS). CAC.Offered is a handsome EF 1856 Flying Eagle cent that will nicely represent this classic issue. Warmly patinated in olive-brown, both sides are boldly defined with a pleasing appearance. Having overestimated contemporary demand for this issue when the Mint began marketing restrike Proof 1856 Flying Eagle cents in the late 1850s, stocks of undistributed examples remained on hand until well into the 1870s. The existence of circulated survivors from the Snow-9 die marriage, as here, also suggests that some unsold examples were placed into circulation during the Civil War at a time when the withdrawal of gold and silver from commercial channels in the East and Midwest made the cent a particularly popular alternative.With light wear to the high points, the present example may have been one of those unsold Snow-9 examples that entered circulation alongside regular issue copper-nickel cents during the Civil War. Alternatively, it could have been spent by an early collector, either intentionally or by mistake. Either way, it is a more affordable, yet still technically sound and aesthetically pleasing example of a historic rarity from the earliest years of coin collecting in the United States.