FLOAT
1856 Flying Eagle cent obverse, dated 1856 — the Bibliothèque nationale de France's example of the same issue; the tracked Snow-3 PCGS PR67+ CAC specimen is a different coin
Bibliothèque nationale de France

1856 Flying Eagle Cent

Maker
U.S. Mint (Philadelphia)
Year
1856
Rank
21 of 100

1856 Flying Eagle Cent

1856 Flying Eagle Cent by U.S. Mint (Philadelphia) (1856) is ranked 21 in the FLOAT 100 for Coins. It sold for $312,000 on 21 November 2024. A pattern-turned-rarity that launched small-cent collecting; the most famous of all Flying Eagle cents.

What is it, and why is it in the FLOAT 100?

A pattern-turned-rarity that launched small-cent collecting; the most famous of all Flying Eagle cents.

1c copper-nickel, Flying Eagle, Snow-3, PCGS PR67+ CAC

What is the best-sourced number for it?

Figure
$312,000
Kind
Realized at auction
Date
21 November 2024

Heritage Auctions, US Coins Signature, Nov 20-24 2024. PCGS PR67+ CAC realized $312,000 — record for the issue (prior $240,000, 2020).

This is a realized sale. Somebody paid it. Source.

How this is made

The figure
One reference price, taken from a named public source and shown with its own kind. FLOAT does not average it with anything or adjust it for time.
Realized or not
A realized price is a completed sale. A market asking price and a price-guide value are not sales, and are labeled as such wherever they appear.
Why no grade ladder
Most FLOAT 100 entries are individual objects. There is one of this, so there is no population and no spread across grades to show.
Archive
2026-08-08