By the end of 1862, with
the war in its 21st month, virtually all U.S. government
coinage had vanished from circulation; hoarders and
speculators-joined by millions of just plain frightened
Americans-had set aside every coin they could get their hands
on, including not only gold and silver pieces but also
base-metal issues. Inventive entrepreneurs came up with a
clever replacement: cent-sized bronze tokens, generally
bearing an implied or even explicit promise of redemption in
goods, services or money. These so-called "Civil War
tokens" soon gained broad acceptance as a useful money
substitute.
The tokens' success came
as a revelation to the Mint; up to then, it had generally been
assumed that Americans wouldn't tolerate money (or money
substitutes) with such small intrinsic value. The tokens
proved otherwise, and the Mint began preparing a modified
one-cent piece modeled after these wartime emergency pieces, a
cent that would retain the new and popular Indian Head design
but on a slim, bronze planchet instead of the thick,
copper-nickel one then in use. At the same time, Mint
officials started giving serious thought to a two-cent piece
of similar composition, reasoning that this would alleviate
the coin shortage even faster.
On December 8, 1863,
Mint Director James Pollock wrote to Treasury Secretary Salmon
P. Chase recommending the issuance of a two-cent piece in
French bronze, the same alloy chosen for the slimmer Indian
cent. Pollock submitted two proposed designs, both by Chief
Engraver James B. Longacre, who also had designed the Indian
cent. One bore the head of George Washington; the other
depicted a shield and arrows. Pollock and Chase both favored
the latter.
Up to then, U.S. coinage
had carried no reference to a supreme being. But that was
about to change, thanks largely to the strong religious fervor
born of the Civil War. In 1861, a Baptist minister, the
Reverend Mark R. Watkinson of Ridleyville, Pennsylvania, had
written a letter to Secretary Chase urging that provision be
made for "the recognition of the Almighty God in some
form on our coins." Said Watkinson: "This would
relieve us from the ignominy of heathenism. This would place
us openly under the Divine protection we have personally
claimed." Clearly, Chase had taken this appeal to heart,
for he specified the inclusion of some such inscription on the
two-cent piece.
Watkinson didn't come up
with the words IN GOD WE TRUST. On the first trial striking of
the two-cent piece, the motto that appeared was GOD OUR TRUST.
Numismatic scholar Walter Breen theorized that the final form
was influenced by the motto of Chase's alma mater, Brown
University: IN DEO SPERAMUS, a Latin phrase meaning "In
God we hope." However it happened, IN GOD WE TRUST was
the version picked in the end.
Congress didn't
stipulate the motto in the legislation authorizing the
two-cent piece, which won passage on April 22, 1864. That law
simply gave Treasury officials discretionary authority
concerning inscriptions on the nation's minor coins. On March
3, 1865, this authority was extended to gold and silver coins
and, for the first time, IN GOD WE TRUST was specifically
mentioned. Use of the motto wasn't mandated, however, until
1908; and even then, the order applied only to gold and silver
coins. Not until 1955 did Congress enact legislation requiring
the inscription on all U.S. coins.
On the two-cent piece,
IN GOD WE TRUST is displayed on a ribbon above the shield on
the obverse. The date appears directly below the shield. The
reverse bears a simple wreath surrounding the statement of
value-2 CENTS-and encircled, in turn, by UNITED STATES OF
AMERICA.
Starved for coinage of
any kind, Americans readily embraced the two-cent piece when
it made its first appearance in 1864. That year also witnessed
the highwater mark for the coin's production, with nearly 20
million business-strike examples being made. Output was
relatively high in 1865, as well, topping 13.6 million.
Acceptance and mintage levels both fell off dramatically after
the war, however, as other coins began to reappear in
circulation. Fewer than 3.2 million pieces were struck in 1866
and, by 1870, production plunged below the one million mark.
Business strikes hit rock bottom in 1872, when the Mint issued
only 65,000 pieces for circulation. In 1873, the coin's final
year, there were only proofs. In all, the Mint produced just
over 45.6 million business-strikes and slightly more than
7,000 proofs. The latter were made in each of the series' 10
years.
Because of its small
size and absence of great rarities, this is a set that even
collectors of modest means have a realistic chance of
completing by date and mint (especially considering that only
one mint-Philadelphia-produced this coin). In practice,
though, many settle for collecting the series by type alone.
Although it is unusually
short and doesn't include a single branch-mint issue, the
two-cent series does contain some interesting varieties. The
best-known are the Small Motto and Large Motto issues of 1864.
On some of that year's two-cent pieces, IN GOD WE TRUST has
noticeably smaller and fatter lettering. These Small Motto
pieces are considerably scarcer than their Large Motto
counterparts and command much higher premiums in every grade
level. There also is a scarce and valuable 1867 doubled-die
error, and the proof-only 1873 issues come in two varieties,
with a Closed 3 and an Open 3 in the date.
On this design, wear
first shows on the word WE, the arrow points and the tips of
the leaves. Two-cent pieces are readily available in grades up
to Mint State-65 and Proof-65, but supplies dwindle sharply
above that level. Mint state pieces command higher premiums
when they are fully red in color.
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