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The year 1863 is often remembered by American historians as marking the height of the United States Civil War, when the nation was divided over issues of slavery, state’s rights, and economic policy. Several major events occurred in 1863, including the deadly Battle of Gettysburg in Pennsylvania, President Abraham Lincoln’s singing of the Emancipation Proclamation that freed enslaved people in Confederate territories, and Lincoln’s delivery of the Gettysburg Address – where he proclaimed the American ideals of equality and freedom.
It was also a time of great economic strife, with coin shortages – especially of small-denomination coins – rampant as people hoarded coins amid the socioeconomic uncertainty of the period. This led many private enterprises to strike their own tokens that were widely exchanged as a de-facto form of money. The U.S. Mint tried keeping up with commerce demands, and this in part led to the production of the Two Cent Piece in 1864. Yet, in 1863 it was the Indian Cent that did a lot of the economic heavy lifting, and thus nearly 50 million were struck that year – a number representing a massive mintage in the mid-19th century.
The 1863 Indian Cent saw the highest mintage of any one-cent coin struck during the period of regular-issue copper-nickel cent production, which lasted from 1857 through 1864. Not only is the 1863 Indian Cent the most common issue from the first half of the series run, but it is indeed an easy coin to land in virtually any grade up through about MS64.
This issue’s rarity does notably increase in a grade of MS65 or higher, with only a handful of specimens reaching the finest-known grade of MS67. This is undoubtedly owed to the fact that many of these coins were spent as money during the hard times of the Civil War. However, this may also relate to quality issues given the massive – and certainly hastened – production of the 1863 Indian Cent. Regardless, 1863 Indian Cent prices run the gamut from affordable in the lower circulated grades to four figures for nicer Mint State specimens.