1871 1C Indian Cent PCGS MS64+RB (PHOTO SEAL)

Choice Unc (12: 3,4,5) RB 30% Full strike with very few marks. This is a very tough date with one of the lowest mintages in the series. Additionally, there was a very high meltage rate for this date and the 1872. In 1871 the Mint began recoining cents being accumulated in the banks. This was done in an attempt to get the coins moving more quickly in to circulation. The legal tender limit was low and cents would go out into circulation and then accumulate in merchants cash drawers. These coins would be turned into the banks where they would sit. The Mint Act of 1871 allowed the banks to turn these coin back into the Mint. There they were melted and coined into new coins. Seems wasteful, and it was. By 1874 the coins were turned in and reissued. The 1871, 1872 and 1873 coins made a short turn from the Mint, to the banks and back again. As a result this is one of the scarcest dates in the series.