1864 Two Cent Patterns

About This Coin

Produced at the Philadelphia Mint during the Civil War Patterns (1860-1865) series, the 1864 Two Cent Patterns carry extraordinary significance as experimental designs for the first United States coin to bear IN GOD WE TRUST. The regular-issue two-cent piece, designed by James Barton Longacre and introduced in 1864, pioneered this religious inscription — a response to widespread public sentiment during the Civil War that coins should acknowledge divine providence. The obverse features a shield with the groundbreaking motto banner, while the reverse displays a wreath enclosing 2 CENTS. A notable result of $36K in PR62 grade at Heritage Auctions reflects the premium the two-cent piece's motto-pioneering status commands. The 1864 patterns document the experimental phase preceding the denomination's formal introduction, testing design variations before final production dies were completed. For numismatic historians, these patterns represent the laboratory where one of the most consequential decisions in American coinage history was refined — IN GOD WE TRUST, a motto that would gradually spread to all denominations and become mandated by law on every United States coin.