Today, I received an 1862 Indian Head penny from EBay. The penny seems to be thicker than the other later date Indian Head pennies I have bought. Is this normal?
They are sometimes called "fatties". They are a copper-nickel composition. They were made from 1859 to 1864.
If you check your Redbook (and if you collect US coins your probably should have one) you will find that the 1857 to 1864 coppernickel cents weighed 72 grains, while the 1864 and later bronze cent weighed only 48 grains. Now coppernickel and bronze have almost identical densities so if the coins are the same diameter, and the copper nickels weigh 1.5 times as much.......
I have been collecting now for about 10 months, but I have learned a lot in that amount of time from books (including the Redbook) and other sources. I sometimes still need to ask a basic question. One of my major reasons for being here is to learn.
No harm, no foul, new-at-this. It was a good question. The story I read somewhere was that copper tokens from that era, often with an obverse that resembled the IHC, circulated freely and were readily accepted as payment. The Mint concluded it could reduce the coin's size (thickness) and switch to brass and save along the way. Brass cents were easier on dies too. So mid-1864 the thicker copper-nickel IHC's were changed to thinner brass ones. Both 19mm diameter, but from 4.7g to 3.11g. FWIW, third party grading companies assign a color designation for brass IHC's but not the copper-nickel ones. Here are examples of each. Lance.
I thought the same thing when I got one myself. Then I did some research, they are fatter than the other cents.
