1866 Indian Cent. Snow-9a, FS-303. Repunched Date. MS-65 RD (PCGS). OGH.This is an outstanding Indian cent that offers condition rarity and strong eye appeal for the challenging 1866 issue. Lovely medium rose color is displayed on both sides, and the surfaces are softly frosted with an exceptionally smooth appearance. Die Stage A for the Snow-9a Repunched Date variety, striking detail is bold to sharp in virtually all areas.The 1866 inaugurates a run of low mintage circulation strike Indian cents that would continue through the end of the Reconstruction era in 1877 (and even slightly beyond through 1878). Although initially enjoying widespread acceptance in the East and Midwest where coinage had disappeared from circulation through hoarding during the Civil War, the bronze cent introduced in 1864 was already proving a nuisance in commercial channels by 1866. More examples had been produced in 1864 and 1865 than were needed, with unwanted coins quickly accumulating in bank reserves. The governments first response was to limit the number of new cents produced, hence a mintage of just 9,826,500 circulation strikes for the 1866, down from 39,429,286 pieces for the 1865. Eventually, however, the Act of 1871 authorized the Mint to redeem earlier-dated copper, bronze and even copper-nickel cents to relieve the backlog of such coins. The redeemed coins were melted and the metal recovered was used for new coinage, a practice that continued until 1874 when the Mint began simply reissuing the redeemed coins alongside newly struck pieces. Numismatic scholars suspect that many 1866 cents were destroyed after they were redeemed by the Mint; the combination of this destruction and the smaller mintage explaining the scarcity of examples. With the quality and eye appeal offered here the 1866 is rare from a condition standpoint, and the present lot is sure to see spirited bidding.PCGS Population: 27; 8 finer in this category (all MS-66 RD).
