How an Indian Head Cent Ended Up on This 1864 Two-Cent Coin
At first glance, this 1864 Two-Cent Piece looks like a handsome Mint State survivor from the Civil War. Tilt the reverse under the right light, however, and something unexpected appears.
A second coin seems to emerge from the bronze.
Above the S in CENTS, collectors can see part of the profile of Liberty from an Indian Head cent. The nose and lips provide the most recognizable clues. Yet those features have no business appearing on a two-cent piece.
They exist because the reverse die somehow came into direct contact with an Indian Head cent obverse die.
The result became one of the most fascinating die varieties in the entire two-cent series: the 1864 Large Motto FS-1901 multi-denominational die clash.
CAC selected this example, graded CAC MS64RB, as its Coin of the Week for September 23, 2026.
PCGS separately recognizes FS-1901 as the 1864 Two-Cent Piece “Clash w/ Ind. 1C,” while major auction records trace certified examples of the variety for decades. Heritage described the visible image as Liberty’s profile above the S in CENTS. GreatCollections likewise identifies the nose and lips in that area as important diagnostics.
A Coin Born From a Civil War Currency Crisis
The two-cent piece arrived at exactly the moment the United States needed small change.
By the middle of the Civil War, Americans had pulled gold and silver coins from circulation. Soon, they began hoarding copper-nickel cents as well. Merchants and consumers still needed change, so private alternatives filled the gap. Civil War tokens, fractional currency, and other substitutes circulated alongside federal money.
Congress responded on April 22, 1864.
The new law reduced the weight of the cent and replaced its copper-nickel alloy with bronze. More importantly for this story, Congress also authorized an entirely new denomination: the two-cent piece.
The law specified a weight of 96 grains, or about 6.22 grams. It also called for the same bronze composition used for the new cent: 95% copper with the remaining 5% consisting of tin and zinc.
Chief Engraver James Barton Longacre created the design.
Longacre placed a Union shield at the center of the obverse. Crossed arrows and foliage appear behind it. Above the shield, a ribbon carries three words that would eventually become familiar on American money:
The 1864 two-cent piece marked the first appearance of the motto on a United States coin. The U.S. Mint confirms that Congress authorized the denomination on April 22, 1864, and that the new bronze coin introduced the motto to U.S. coinage.
That alone gives the 1864 two-cent piece an important place in American numismatic history.
FS-1901 adds another chapter.
Small Motto Becomes Large Motto
The Mint changed Longacre’s design almost immediately.
The first 1864 coins carried what collectors now call the Small Motto. The lettering in IN GOD WE TRUST appears smaller and more compact.
Soon afterward, the Mint introduced larger, stronger lettering. That Large Motto design became the standard format for the rest of the series. PCGS identifies the Large Motto as the more common of the two 1864 major varieties.
Researcher Robert W. Julian traced the first delivery to 25,000 two-cent pieces and identified those early coins as Small Motto examples. The remaining 1864 production used the Large Motto design.
PCGS reports a total 1864 two-cent mintage of 19,847,500 pieces. Subtracting that initial 25,000-coin Small Motto delivery produces the commonly cited 19,822,500 Large Motto figure found in specialist references.
However, ordinary production numbers tell us almost nothing about the rarity or appeal of FS-1901.
This coin came from one very unusual reverse die.
How a Normal Die Clash Happens
A conventional die clash begins when a coining press cycles without a planchet properly positioned between its dies.
Normally, the dies maintain enough clearance to avoid hitting each other. If that clearance disappears, the two working dies can collide. During that collision, each die may pick up part of the opposing design.
The damaged dies then strike additional coins. Those coins can show faint, incuse and mirror-image traces of design elements that belong on the opposite side.
Collectors encounter conventional clashes on many U.S. coin series.
The 1864 FS-1901 presents a much stranger problem.
The reverse die of the two-cent piece did not clash with a two-cent obverse die.
It met an Indian Head cent obverse die.
Two Denominations Meet on One Die
That difference transforms FS-1901 from an ordinary clash into a multi-denominational clash.
A two-cent piece measures 23 millimeters in diameter and weighs 6.22 grams. An 1864 bronze Indian Head cent measures only about 19 millimeters and weighs 3.11 grams. Both coins used the same basic bronze composition, and Longacre designed both.
Somehow, dies intended for those two different denominations came together.
The surviving coins preserve the evidence.
Look closely above the S in CENTS on the two-cent reverse. A faint section of Liberty’s profile emerges from the field. Heritage has described the feature as Liberty facing right above the S. Other documented examples reveal enough of the nose and lips to make the foreign design recognizable once a collector knows where to look.
That is the real “WOW” factor of FS-1901.
This is not damage added after the coin left the Mint. Nor did another coin strike the finished piece. The abnormal design existed on the working reverse die. Therefore, every coin struck from that die while the clash remained visible could carry some portion of the Indian cent portrait.
Exactly how the mismatched dies came into contact remains uncertain. The known physical evidence establishes the clash. It does not establish the sequence of events that brought the two dies together. Without documentary evidence from the Philadelphia Mint, theories about an intentional test, an off-press accident, or employee experimentation should remain theories.
That mystery only adds to the variety’s fascination.
A Recognized 19th-Century Crossover Variety
FS-1901 has long since moved beyond the status of an obscure curiosity.
PCGS assigns dedicated catalog numbers to Brown, Red-Brown, and Red examples of the variety. The Red-Brown version carries PCGS number 38245. The variety previously appeared under the older FS-001.8 designation.
Public auction records also confirm long-standing collector interest.
Stack’s Bowers sold a PCGS MS64RB example for $2,314 in March 2011 and an NGC MS65RB for $1,292 in November 2016. Heritage sold a PCGS MS63RB for $528 in October 2018, an MS65RB for $1,380 in October 2021, and an MS65+RB for $960 in August 2022. Those historical prices should not serve as current valuations, but they document an active specialist market for the variety.
The CAC Coin of the Week brings another desirable ingredient: preservation.
At MS64RB, the featured coin remains in Choice Mint State condition and retains enough original reddish copper color to earn the Red-Brown designation. Just as importantly, an unworn coin gives collectors a better opportunity to study the delicate clash detail that makes FS-1901 special.
The Two-Cent Piece Burns Bright, Then Disappears
The denomination itself enjoyed only a brief moment of success.
The Philadelphia Mint struck nearly 20 million two-cent pieces during 1864. Production fell below 14 million in 1865. Then it dropped to just over three million in 1866. By 1872, the Mint struck only 65,000 circulation pieces.
The reason was simple. The emergency that created demand for the denomination began to disappear.
As normal coinage returned after the Civil War, Americans again had access to cents and other small denominations. The arrival of the copper-nickel five-cent coin in 1866 further reduced the need for the unusual two-cent denomination.
The Mint struck its final two-cent pieces for circulation in 1872. It produced only Proofs in 1873, and the Coinage Act of 1873 ended the denomination.
Yet the short-lived series left an outsized legacy.
It introduced IN GOD WE TRUST to American coinage. It captured the monetary disruption of the Civil War. And, in the case of FS-1901, it preserved something even stranger: evidence of two different denominations meeting where they never should have met.
More than 160 years later, the faint profile hiding above CENTS still tells the story.
Sometimes the most remarkable feature on a coin is the design that was never supposed to be there.
1864 Two-Cent Large Motto FS-1901 Specifications
- Country: United States
- Denomination: Two Cents
- Year: 1864
- Variety: Large Motto, FS-1901
- Special Feature: Reverse die clashed with Indian Head cent obverse die
- Mint: Philadelphia
- Mintmark: None
- Designer: James Barton Longacre
- Composition: 95% copper, 5% tin and zinc
- Weight: 6.22 grams / 96 grains
- Diameter: 23 mm
- Edge: Plain
- Strike: Business Strike
- Total 1864 Mintage: 19,847,500
- Approx. Large Motto Production: 19,822,500
- Featured Coin Grade: CAC MS64RB
- Obverse: Union shield, crossed arrows and foliage; IN GOD WE TRUST above; date below
- Reverse: 2 CENTS within a wheat wreath; UNITED STATES OF AMERICA around
- Key FS-1901 Diagnostic: Indian Head cent Liberty profile visible on the reverse, most notably above the S in CENTS
