1888 Indian Head Cents (1859-1909)

Intriguing History

In 1888, industrial America kept booming under Cleveland and Harrison, with the Sherman Silver Purchase Act of 1890 further swelling the nation's silver coinage even as labor unrest, from the 1886 Haymarket affair onward, exposed the strains of the era's rapid, often ruthless growth. This Indian Head cent, designed by James B. Longacre, carried small change through exactly this stretch of American history for half a century.