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Whoa! Is that an Indian Head Penny?The first time I actually found an Indian Head penny occurred while going through the contents of a large pottery pig handed over the back fence from our neighbor when I was a kid in Baltimore.It was a really big pig – a piggy bank in the truest sense. There were lots of pennies, silver dimes, quarters, and halves, and a couple of silver dollars. This was during the mid-1950s, and all the coins greater than a penny were real silver, except for the nickel. But even the nickels were silver if made during “The War” (WWII). Sighting Indian Head pennies in change was uncommon, but not unheard of – a bit like finding a wheat cent today. It had been 45 years or so since the last Indian Head penny was struck in 1909. And the first one was made before the Civil War in 1859! Newly arrived at Dumbarton Junior High, my friends and I were all interested in history. Living in an old East Coast city was conducive to the appreciation of “long ago” but not so far away. For example, on a balmy Saturday morning during a late 50's June, just after school let out for the summer, I rode my bicycle with friends from my home to the Gettysburg Battlefield, and back. Of course I took along my first early Indian Head cent – a copper-nickel 1863 given to me by my grandmother. I just had to experience a historic setting where this coin may have circulated in its first year! Who knows where my coin actually was in July of 1863 when Gettysburg became “this hallowed ground”? Maybe… Well, WHY NOT?
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