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This is one of my favorite coins. I own 8 of them.

There were only 3 years that flying eagle cents were minted.

In fact, there were so few of them that coin books typically put flying eagle pennies in the same group as indian head pennies.

 

Little-Known Facts About Flying Eagle Cents:

• The flying eagle cent has a fantastic design of a flying eagle on the front of the coin.
• The designer of this coin was James B. Longacre, who also designed the Indian Head penny.
• This coin had a copper-nickel composition.
• There are 3 different variations of the 1858 flying eagle. Some have UNITED STATES OF AMERICA in small letters. Some have it stamped in larger letters. And some coins have the 8 stamped over a 7.

View a picture of a flying eagle cent.

 

How Much Are Flying Eagle Cents Worth?

Here’s the value of the flying eagles:

1858 large letters – $24.00-$140.00
1858 small letters – $24.00-$140.00
1858 8 over 7 – $75.00-$800.00

1857 – $24.00-$140.00

1856 – ONE EXPENSIVE BIRD you could call it.
If you’re someone thinking about collecting small cents, this is one you’ll probably never obtain (*pouts*) unless you plan on spending some big $$$. There were only 2,000 of these ever minted. If you own a coin album like I do that has a dated slot to put each coin in, you’ll notice there’s not even a slot for the 1856 flying eagle cent since not many people have them. Prices for an 1856 flying eagle start out at $6,500.00 just for a coin graded “good”, which is a very low grade, all the way up to $20,000.00 for a mint state coin. I don’t think I’ll have the 1856 in my collection anytime soon to join the ’57 and ’58.