1860 Indian Cent. FS-401. Pointed Bust. MS-66 (PCGS). CAC. Supremely attractive surfaces are drenched in a blend of bright tannish-apricot patina and soft satin to frosty luster. A smartly impressed example with sharp to full striking detail throughout the design. The Pointed Bust obverse hub variety of the 1860 Indian cent is a holdover from 1859 and represents a transitional variety before the Mint introduced the Rounded Bust hub. This variety was overlooked at the time of issue, and went largely unnoticed by numismatists for more than 100 years. The first mention in print was in Walter Breens emEncyclopedia/em in 1988, where the 1860 Pointed Bust is described as "very rare." The elusiveness of this variety has stood the test of time and today, most numismatic scholars agree that only about 5% of surviving 1860 Indian cents are of the Pointed Bust variety. The present example is close to Condition Census and sure to have no difficulty finding its way into an advanced Indian cent collection.
