1849
The California Gold Rush was in full swing with about 80,000 people going to California in 1849 alone. The US Department of the Interior was created this year, Walter Hunt of New York patented a safety pin, Henry David Thoreau wrote his essay "Civil Disobedience," and Elizabeth Blackwell became the first woman to earn a medical degree in the US.
The British annexed the Punjab region of India this year. In Italy, Giuseppe Garibaldi fought against the French and made his famous retreat. Armand Fizeau, a French physicist, measured the speed of light, Scottish explorer David Livingstone discovered Lake Ngami in eastern Africa, and the English archaeologist Henry Layard excavated more than 25,000 tablets at Nineveh, the site of the ancient capital of Assyria.
The mint struck and delivered 4,178,500 large cents and 39,864 half cents this year, the first time circulating half cents had been struck since 1835. Twenty-seven different varieties of large cents are known for this date (N 1 – N 5, N 7 – N12, N 14, N 16 – N 30). One variety, N 18, comes as a proof only. There is only one variety (C 1) of business strike half cent and two proof varieties, one a restrike. Half cent production resumed because by the end of September, the mint’s stock of half cents had shrunk to 24,778 pieces. Half cents were delivered in November and December. Business strikes this year come with a large date while proof strikes use a small date.
The nicest coins for this year include C 1 (1), C 1 (4), and N 22.
HALF CENTS
LARGE CENTS