Expert: Jim Lawniczak - 11/18/2006

Question
I have a 1904 encased indian head penny.  The encasement is in the shape of a horseshoe.  One side of the encasement says "Louisiana Purchase Exposition" St. Louis, MO 1904.  The other side says keep me and never go broke.  I've seen similar coins in a round casing but not in the horseshoe shape.  Can you give me an appx. value for GOOD condition?

Answer
Hello, Renee, the most common type of encased cents are the round and the horseshoe.  There were several types of horseshoe encased for the 1904 St. Louis World's Fair (also called the Louisiana Purchase Exposition -- it was the same thing).  They were cataloged by Bob Henderschott in his book on the St. Louis world's fair.  Encased cents can trade for very different amounts depending on how many people want the one you are selling.  Yours is fairly common but also fairly popular and so will sell in the range of $15 to $20 or so in decent condition.  If you go to www.ebay.com and do a search for 1904 encased or St. Louis fair encased, you may see some selling and can look at the pictures.  If noe are selling now, try back again in a bit, eventually you'll see one or more.  Hope this helped, Jim Lawniczak