1860 Indian Cent. Rounded Bust. MS-66+ (PCGS). CAC. This beautifully toned Gem Indian cent exhibits iridescent salmon pink, powder blue and champagne-gold highlights on tan-apricot patina. Highly lustrous surfaces are satiny and nice for the assigned grade. The strike is excellent for a circulation strike of this type, and full detail even extends to the ends of the uppermost feathers in Libertys headdress.The supply of newer small cents in circulation had reached a point in the summer of 1860 at which the exchange program set up three years earlier to remove the old larger copper coins and small denomination foreign silver coins ceased. As a result, cent production was lower than it had been the previous year.The majority of the 20,566,000 copper-nickel cents struck in 1860 are of the Rounded Bust variety, as here. Connoisseurs will take keen notice when this exceptional MS-66+ example crosses the block. From our (American Numismatic Rarities) sale of the Oliver Jung Collection, July 2004, lot 13.
