The Indian Head cent is a penny ($0.01) that was produced by the U.S.
Bureau of the Mint from 1859 to 1909. It was preceded by the large cent
(1793–1857), a copper coin about the size of a half dollar, and the
Flying Eagle cent. The large cent was discontinued after a rise in the
price of copper in the wake of the California Gold Rush (1848–1855).
The 1857 Flying Eagle is identical in diameter to the modern U.S. cent,
but thicker, with a composition of 12% nickel and 88% copper. The Indian
head cent, designed by James Barton Longacre, the Chief Engraver at the
Philadelphia Mint, was initially the same size as the Flying Eagle.
Cents were hoarded during the economic chaos of the American Civil War,
when nickel was in short supply, and privately issued bronze tokens
began to circulate until Congress authorized a thinner cent of bronze
alloy. After the war the cent became popular, and even more so with the
advent of coin-operated machines in the late 19th and early 20th
centuries. In 1909, the Indian Head cent was replaced by Victor D.
Brenner's Lincoln cent.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indian_Head_cent>
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Today's selected anniversaries:
1444:
The League of Lezhë, an alliance of the regional chieftains,
was established in Venetian Albania with Skanderbeg as its commander.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/League_of_Lezh%C3%AB>
1776:
American Revolutionary War: Patriot militia from Georgia and
South Carolina attempted to resist the British action to seize and
remove supply ships anchored at Savannah, Georgia.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_the_Rice_Boats>
1919:
Communist, revolutionary socialist, and syndicalist delegates
met in Moscow to establish the Communist International.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1st_Congress_of_the_Comintern>
1943:
World War II: Australian and American air forces attacked and
destroyed a large convoy of the Japanese Navy in the Bismarck Sea north
of Papua New Guinea.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_the_Bismarck_Sea>
1978:
Aboard the Soviet spacecraft Soyuz 28, Czechoslovak military
pilot Vladimír Remek became the first person from outside the Soviet
Union or the United States to go into space.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soyuz_28>
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Wiktionary's word of the day:
montage:
A composite work, particularly an artwork, created by assembling or
putting together other elements such as pieces of music, pictures,
texts, videos, etc.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/montage>
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Wikiquote quote of the day:
It’s a troublesome world. All the people who're in it are
troubled with troubles almost every minute. You oughta be thankful, a
whole heaping lot, For the places and people you're lucky you're not!.
--Dr. Seuss
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Dr._Seuss>