A “red penny” can refer to a penny in mint condition, an Indian Head penny, or the Penny Red stamp used in Great Britain. The Indian Head penny was printed from 1859 to 1909 and is worth varying amounts depending on the year. The term “red penny” is used to describe a penny in pristine condition.
The term red penny can be used to refer to a number of different things, although it is generally only used to talk about a penny that is in mint condition. In some cases, it can be used to refer to the so-called Indian Head penny, although the term is considered derogatory, so it is not in common use. The term may also be a misunderstood reference to the Penny Red, the main postage stamp used in Great Britain for many years.
The Indian Head penny was printed in the United States from 1859 to 1909 in Philadelphia, and briefly from 1908 to 1909 in San Francisco. It was a penny coin, occupying the same place as our modern penny, but with a different design. On one side, the coin features the head of Liberty wearing a Native American headdress, with the word Liberty inside the headdress as it should appear on all United States coins. On the other side are the words One Cent, with the shield of the United States.
The oldest penny, from about 1859 to 1864, contained 12% nickel in addition to 88% copper. Thus, the red penny, produced before the nickel we know today as the nickel, is known as the nickel, or simply the nick. After the Civil War, however, and the coin hoarding that accompanied that period, this penny was changed to a cheaper metal, with 95% copper and 5% tin and zinc, in the process reducing the weight to about 75% of its previous weight.
The red penny was produced in fairly small numbers, with 1909 in San Francisco having the lowest year, with a total of 309,000 minted pennies. In total, from 1859 to 1909, about 1.85 billion Indian Head cents were minted. Certain years, however, are still worth quite a bit, because most have been lost to history, especially from the older mints. For example, the 1864 red penny, the first to use tin and zinc, is worth between $1,000 and $3,000 United States dollars (USD). The 1877 red penny, on the other hand, the rarest of the minions, can sell for over $30,000 USD on the high end. The Philadelphia Mint’s 1909 penny, at the other end of the spectrum, sells for between $100 and $300 USD.
When many people refer to a red penny, they are of course not talking about an Indian Head penny at all. Instead, they refer to a color distinction that indicates a pristine condition. Although these pennies are not actually red, they are a much more vibrant color and red is used to describe it. As the pennies are handled from month to month, they dull and become the more familiar shade of brown. When someone talks about a red penny in a collectible sense, they are simply saying that the penny hasn’t been over-handled and therefore not damaged yet.
In some cases, people may also be referring to the Penny Red, a stamp used in Great Britain. It was first issued in 1841, and was the main type of stamp used in Great Britain until it was discontinued in 1879. The Penny Red replaced the earlier Penny Black, and was so named because the main color of the stamp was red, instead instead of the previous black background.
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