LFEs struck on thick planchets (AKA piedforts) are known to exist. Though never mentioned in any of the Judd book’s first 10 editions or in Pollock, this coin’s existence was confirmed as early as April of 1863, in Bangs, Merwin & Co.’s Woodward sale. Auction lot number 2211 stated, “Flying Eagle Cent, pure copper, on planchet of double thickness, exceedingly rare, very few of this variety struck.” The next reference to a thick planchet copper 1855 Flying Eagle Cent was in Bangs, Merwin’s April 1877 Jenks sale, in lot number 409, which stated, “1855 Cent. Flying Eagle. Copper. Thick planchet.” According to the notations in the auction catalogue, this specimen sold for $0.75. Robert Coulton Davis’ September 1885 volume of The Coin Collector’s Journal also confirmed this coin’s existence in Davis-86, wherein it stated,
“Occurs upon thick and thin planchets.”
Just as it is impossible to determine a pattern’s metallic composition, and consequently, its Judd number, by visual appearance alone, identifying a planchet of double thickness is impossible, unless the coin is raw (or if its weight is known). This coin was identified only after having tested for metallic content and weighing it, at which time the weight was determined to be 142.4 grains, more than 1½ times that of a normal Large Flying Eagle.
Subsequent to this discovery, an 1854 “J-165B” tested out as 100% copper (J-165A) and weighed more than 135 grains, only the second thick planchet LFE currently known (See images directly below).
Mint Discussions Regarding LFEs with Thick Planchets
Starting in 1849, the Mint actively pursued a replacement for the more than fifty year old Large Cent, which was considered cumbersome and tended to corrode over time. Additionally, the price of minting the cent was becoming increasingly unprofitable. To reduce the size of the cent, over the first few years, the Mint had experimented with billon and German silver as well as other alloys. Some of the patterns were struck with holes cut in the center (called annular cents).
On December 28, 1853 Director Snowden forwarded a letter from Booth to Secretary Guthrie. Booth expressed optimism for the German silver cent in the letter, stating, in pertinent part, “Our friend the Chief Coiner has prepared a die merely to test the metal which I propose for the cent piece. I wish the pieces to be made thicker + to have a different device, so that even in the dark, they could not be mistaken for a dime. They will wear well, better than the 3-cent piece. We shall send on pieces as soon as they present any point of interest in relation to the new coinage.” The patterns Booth referred to were J-149/J-151.
Guthrie responded, in part, “If the metal in the cent pieces forwarded are so near the value of the cent, as not to give profit after paying for the coinage and no other metal can be substituted for it and the cent piece can be reduced in thickness and enlarged in circumference & was not to be mistaken for the silver 10 cents, it may answer. I would be pleased to have a report upon these points and a new specimen of an enlarged piece, with any other suggestion you may have to make.”
On January 17, 1854, Booth suggested two variations of thickness and diameter. “The new cent coin may have one of two dimensions. It may be made of a diameter intermediate between the dime & half dime, & about twice the thickness of the dime, which would be more convenient in handling;- or it may be made intermediate between the dime & quarter dollar in diameter & a little thicker than the dime. Either of these forms, but I think the former more especially, would prevent its being mistaken for any of our silver coin, add to this the peculiar unctuous feeling of the alloy and the dullness in ring, as distinguished from Silver, and I think there is less danger of confounding the new cent coin with Silver, than there is at present of confounding the dime & quarter Eagle, or the half dime & gold dollar.”
The experiments at the Mint continued, and on April 5, 1854, Mint Director Snowden wrote to Guthrie, “I have ordered the preparation of some specimens of a cent containing 100 grains of copper – And will have some prepared containing 95 per cent copper, 4 of tin and 1 of zinc, a composition which is said to be admirably adapted for the purpose, and in the same time used in France. As soon as they are prepared I will send your specimens and present my reply to your inquiry upon the subject.” He was referring to the 1854 Coronet Head pattern cents, J-160 and J-161.
On May 12, 1854, still interested in varying thickness as a possible solution. Guthrie wrote, in part, “I also desire that a report be made to me from the experiments of Mr. Booth of the proportion of metals for the proposed new three cent pieces, vis: The one of the size of the Quarter Eagle, one of enlarged size and the Bronze one proposed by you with the seignorage of each. It might be desirable to increase the thickness and diminish the diameter of each from the samples sent me – The Committee are pressing for my recommendations upon these and other subjects and therefore my desire to hear from you.”
The next day, Snowden responded, in part, “That a coin containing 40 pr ct nickel, like the accompanying specimens, are worth 20 pr ct seignorage, one dollar per 100 pieces. But I would recommend a piece of the same quality of metal, precisely intermediate in diameter between the dime and half dime, but a little thicker than the pieces now inclosed, which would also be worth one dollar per 100 pieces, with 20 pr ct seignorage. My chief reason for these dimensions is that the cent piece would not be confounded with any other coin we issue – whether gold or silver, and could even be distinguished without sight. The 40 pr ct alloy has the further advantage of a peculiar steel-like lustre, different from any other alloy known.”
Desperate for a suitable substitute for the Large Cent, in a May 24, 1854 letter to Snowden, Guthrie suggested further experimentation with annular cents, a concept which had been tested years earlier. He wrote, “It has been suggested to me that the cent coin of German Silver may be conveniently coined with a hole in it and that all mechanical difficulty may be avoided by cutting the [hole] with a punch in the strip at the same stroke you cut off the cent from the strip. Then the piece may have the impression put on it with the die as now after the hole shall have been punched.”
On May 26, 1854, Snowden reminded Guthrie of the previous failure of the annular cent experimentats. He wrote, in part, ” In reply to your communication of the 24th inst, I would state, that the fabrication of annular coins was a matter of “experiment” at the Mint, in the years 1850, 1851, and 1852. The first attempt was to make a copper coin containing one-tenth Silver, and nearly of the value of a cent. The objection to this piece was, that the commercial value of the Silver was in a good [measure shrunk] by being put in such a base admixture; and without this precious metal, the piece was so light and worthless as to be incapable of circulation….The mechanical difficulties in the manufacture of annular coins are not trivial. They do not lie so much in the cutting out of the planchet, as your letter supposes as in the stamping and throwing off. Without entering into a serious calculation, I should be ready to conclude that a considerable proportion of the value of a cent, so formed, would be sunk in the making. But as I have already observed, the desideration is, not to spread out the superficies of copper, or of german-silver, but of gold; and hence, if we are obliged to make a gold half dollar, the central hole should be reserved for that extremity.”
The Mint dropped the concept of the annular cent until the 1880s. More importantly, they continued to pursue a solution regarding the diameter and thickness of the proposed cent, and they seemed ready to seriously consider what devices that cent would bear. On June 24, 1854, William DuBois (Assayer of the Mint and Curator of its cabinet) wrote a note suggesting two possibilities for the proposed cent. It stated as follows:
“Note on the proper Diameter for a Copper Cent of 100 grains.
The present cent measures 22/20 of an inch (or 1 2/20ths;) the half cent, 18/20ths. It is proposed therefore to adopt the exact medium, which is just one inch; for the following reasons:
1. It is a neat & suitable size, as will appear from the card-sample herewith.
2. If kept down to the diameter of the half cent, or only enlarged in the proportion of weight (84 to 100) the size will make it objectionable to a great many people, who have been accustomed to look upon it as a half cent.
3. In preparing dies to strike a sample, there are several dies in the mint, which might be put in the lathe to reduce for that purpose – either the flying-eagle dollar, or Mr. Kneass’s peculiar Head of Liberty, half dollar of 1838.”
DuBois’ note, along with a comment from Booth’s January 17, 1854 letter to Director Snowden, appear to directly reflect the thought process of the decisionmakers regarding the transition from large cent to small cent and the creation of the LFE, both in its dimensions and its devices, a process which was slow in developing. Recall that Booth’s letter had noted, that varying the diameter and thickness of the cent “would prevent its being mistaken for any of our silver coin…”
Apparently, the Mint continued to consider varying diameter and thickness, depending upon which alloy they would ultimately adopt. There are at least two LFE piedforts in existence, one 1854 and one 1855. Chances are that they were struck in 1854 or 1855, though it is possible (though unlikely) that some (or all) could have been struck for collectors at a later time.