1874 1c MS RB

1874 Cent Production: Obviously, with mintages climbing slightly this year, this date is more readily available than the earlier dates in the 1870’s.

Survivability: Beginning this year, the Mint began to reissue cents redeemed under the provisions set in the Mint Act of 1871. The Mint was required to buy base-metal coins in quantities no smaller than $20 and melt them down only if there were too many in circulation. Of the four million older bronze cents redeemed this year, 372,500 were released back into circulation. The 1874 cent is available in most grades, but it is not common by any comparison.

Collecting Challenges: These come well struck. The planchets tend to be rather streaky, due to a variable alloy mix. Many have been cleaned over the years. As with other dates, search for problem-free examples.

Collecting Circulated Pieces: The optimal collecting grade for circulated coins is EF-40. These should not be very diffcult to find, though problem-free examples are elusive.

Collecting Mint State Pieces: The optimal collecting grade for Mint State coins is MS-64RB. It is diffcult to find evenly colored red-brown examples. Most have streaky colorations. This issue is typically found well struck.

Collecting Proof Issues: All examples are from a single die pair with a defect on the date numeral 4, which has in the past been erroneously described as a repunched date. The reverse die used is the same die as is found on the 1872 and 1873 Proof issues, with a bulging right pennant on the T in CENT.

These typically have streaky red-brown toning. As the mintage suggests, they are a bit scarcer than 1873 Proofs. Mirrors are usually medium, but deeply mirrored examples do exist. Full red examples are rare, as are cameo examples.

A minor, but elusive doubled die is known, Snow-1. A few repunched dates are known, but these are all minor.