1 Cent 'Indian Head Cent' with shield

The shield added to the reverse in 1860 was a direct response to criticism that the original 1859 design lacked patriotic weight — the modification came just as the country was fracturing toward civil war. By 1864, the composition itself was abandoned entirely: wartime copper hoarding and the Superior melting value of the nickel alloy made the coins disappear from circulation almost immediately after issue, a textbook example of Gresham's Law playing out in real time. Congress authorized the switch to a lighter bronze cent that same year.