Miami Valley Coin Club

A “Two Cent” Story

It lasted only ten years, a short time for most coins, from 1864 to 1873. The story goes that because of the shortage of coins caused by the civil war, the U.S. Mint was authorized to mint two cent pieces. That fact is possibly true, but the idea of a two cent coin was first proposed in 1806.

The first proposal called for a coin struck in a bullion alloy of mostly copper with a small amount of silver. Because coins struck in this composition were easily counterfeited, Congress decided not to authorize mintage of the coin.

Then in 1836 another proposal was made. Christian Gobrecht, the 3rd chief engraver at the Mint, and Franklin Peale, who at the time was titled “Melter and Refiner”, did composition testing. The counterfeiting issue was again the reason that the coin did not come to be.

In late 1863, Mint Director James Pollock recommended a two cent coin to be struck in “French Bronze”, 95% copper and 5% tin and zinc. Two different designs were submitted for consideration. One design featured the head of George Washington on the obverse, the other a large shield.

The original inscription on the ribbon read “God Our Trust” but Secretary of the Treasury, Salmon Chase preferred “In God We Trust”. Thus, the 1864 two cent piece became the first coin to carry the motto “In God We Trust”. The motto was added to silver coinage two years later.

The prototype dies used small letters in the motto, subsequent strikes with regular dies used larger letters. So the 1864 coins are found with both small and large letters. PCGS reports that in Fine the 1864 small letter type is worth $425, the 1864 large letter type is worth $26.