Our first one cent coins were even larger than today's quarters. Not too easy to carry them around. But one cent was a lot of money then, and you would not have too many with you anyway. Look at these...

The first one cent coins made in the USA were huge. They contained near a cent's worth of copper. Also based on the Penny which comes from England. The nations early coins tried to look like other currencies. I thought I would put a few examples of one cents coins. The production of the large coin ended in 1857. These coins would be replaced by the smaller sized Flying Eagle, which were the size of the modern one cent piece. Here I have five different styles of one cent pieces. All of them were made in the Philadelphia mint.

Shown here are a 1798, 1803, 1818, 1841, 1856. All are different and unique. Today when our one cent piece is made of zinc and coated with copper. It brings back the memory of a time when not only were the one cent pieces almost totally copper, but three times the size of a modern penny.