1899 1c MS RB

1899 Cent Production: Mintages in the mid- to late 1890’s crept up higher and higher each year.

Survivability: This date is a bit more common than most of the dates that follow. Perhaps more examples were saved over the years because of it being the last date in the 1800’s (although it is not the last date in the 19th century).

Collecting Challenges: These are widely available and will be fairly easy to locate in all grades except full red gem.

Collecting Circulated Pieces: The optimal collecting grade for circulated coins is AU-50 to MS-63RB. Locate problem-free original coins with attractive eye appeal.

Collecting Mint State Pieces: The optimal collecting grade for Mint State coins is MS-65RD. These are widely available in all grades. MS-65RD and better pieces are a bit tougher, but such examples are among the easiest to find of the era (only 1909 is easier).

An example of this date, graded MS-68RD by PCGS, is the finest graded coin of the entire Indian Head cent series. It sold for an astounding $69,000 when it was auctioned as part of the Joseph P. Gorrell collection by Heritage at the Florida United Numismatists (FUN) show in January 2003. Earlier, it was in the Dr. Alan Epstein collection, which was the finest Indian Head cent collection ever assembled. When my firm, Eagle Eye Rare Coins, purchased the Dr. Epstein collection in 1996, this particular coin was so special to its previous owner that it was repurchased at the full asking price of $13,500. A bit later Dr. Epstein resold it though Eagle Eye into the Gorrell collection, for $14,500. Nobody could have guessed the astounding price it would command a few years later.

Collecting Proof Issues: Although this date has a lower Proof mintage than some others, examples seem to have survived a bit better than earlier years. Very high-quality examples are readily available. Beware of spotted coins, as the exquisite beauty of a gem Proof can be greatly diminished by the existence of an obvious dark spot.

There are 22 varieties known for this date. Most are minor repunched dates. Snow-13 is a so-called “overdate” 1899/7. It was listed as such in Walter Breen’s Complete Ency-clopedia of U.S. and Colonial Coins, but what appears to be an overdate is nothing more than a die chip inside the last 9. This is still a popular variety, though.