1890 1c MS RB

1890 Cent Production: Scovill Manufacturing Company of Waterbury, Connecticut, supplied planchets to the Mint this year. Scovill won the contract with a 20¢-perpound bid for 500,000 pounds of planchets, which was much lower than the amount that won the contract the year before. One hundred cent blanks weigh one pound, so the contract supplied blanks for about 50 million cents.

Survivability: These coins saw extensive circulation, but enough survived that examples are plentiful in all grades.

Collecting Challenges: Select attractive, problem-free examples. This issue is usually missing some details on the first three feather tips. Otherwise, they are well struck.

Collecting Circulated Pieces: The optimal collecting grade for circulated coins is AU-50. Usually, collectors try to match the color throughout their set. Chocolate brown is the preferred color of circulated coins. In the later years it is easier to find choice-quality coins. Many of these may have a red-brown color. Many collectors include Mint State coins as well.

Collecting Mint State Pieces: The optimal collecting grade for Mint State coins is MS-65RB or MS-64RD. Select eye-appealing coins with few problems. Many coins have toned unevenly or were once cleaned.

Collecting Proof Issues: This date is readily available in most grades except in full red. The number of Proofs minted during the 1890’s slides to new lows. Collectors mistakenly equate the more common dates struck for circulation as being common in Proof as well. The truth is that many of the dates in the 1890’s and 1900’s are very tough to find in gem Proof.

Snow-1 is an interesting variety and is described as a quadrupled die. It shows four distinct outlines on the outer edges of the legend. The Snow-3 has the base of a numeral 1 sticking out of the neck just above the necklace. A total of 16 varieties of interest are presently known, mostly repunched dates.