The United States one-cent coin (often called a penny, from the British coin of the same name) is a unit of currency equalling one-hundredth of a United States dollar. The cent's symbol is ¢. It has been the lowest-value physical unit of U.S. currency since the abolition of the half-cent in 1857.
The earliest one cent coins were large and made of copper. Their designs changed relatively often; there were three different types in 1793 alone, the Flowing Hair / Chain Cent, the Flowing Hair / Wreath Cent and the Liberty Cap Cent - the latter issued until 1796, after which came the Draped Bust type (1796 to 1807), the so-called Classic Head Cent (1808 to 1814) and the Coronet Cent, also known as Liberty Head (1816 to 1857).
When a large copper coin became impractical, an alternative was sought. The Flying Eagle Cent was a transitional smaller type, struck between 1856 and 1858 in copper-nickel. Its design created production problems though, so it was decided to replace it with a new type. In 1858, the Philadelphia Mint tested new designs for the cent; between 60 and 100 sets of twelve pattern coins were struck, consisting of the standard Flying Eagle obverse, a "scrawny eagle" pattern, and the Indian Head design, mated with four different wreaths for the reverse. From these, James Longacre's Indian Head design was finally selected and replaced the Flying Eagle in 1859 - initially also in copper-nickel until 1864, then bronze.
The reverse shows the denomination and value surrounded by a wreath. This was a laurel wreath in 1859, with no shield on top. After that, it was replaced by an oak wreath with a small shield on top. The obverse shows a representation of Liberty (and not an actual American Indian) wearing an Indian headdress made of feathers, thus giving the coin type its name Indian Head Cent - sometimes abbreviated by collectors to IHC; it is also called the Indian Head Penny (IHP).
Like all earlier cents, the Indian Head Cent was struck exclusively by the Philadelphia Mint until 1908; after that, the San Francisco Mint supplemented its production.
In the late 1860s and the 1870s, the Treasury Department initiated redemption programs to replace copper-nickel coins with the bronze cents; the copper-nickel cents disappeared from circulation after the 1880s. The earliest Indian Head Cents are the oldest coins in the world that are still current (next oldest are the 1879 Swiss Ten Rappen coins). They do not circulate in any meaningful way though - most have been worn down and melted, and the rest have been hoarded by collectors.
In 1909, the Indian Head Cent type was replaced by the Lincoln Cent. | 
