The ring cent was various pattern coins released because of the rising copper price. the dates are 1850 through 1851 then skipped to 1884 and 1885. they were made of billon (an alloy), aluminum, copper, cupronickel, nickel silver, silver, and white metal. in the late 1840s copper had gone so high up that it cost more to make the cent so in response a bill was drafted in 1849 by Congressman Sam F. Vinton to reduce the size of the cent. The US mint began to find ways to make the cents cheaper. one of the ways was to put a hole in the middle creating a ring-like style. they started making them in various different alloys but they ran into some problems. one was it was difficult to eject from the mint presses and two it was too expensive to recover the silver that was in them. patterns were made till 1857 then they stopped, and it was replaced by the flying eagle cent. According to numismatic historian Walter Breen, another factor in the rejection of the ring cent was that it reminded many of the Chinese cash coin, which had minimal purchasing value. the ring cent was briefly made again In 1884 by Eastman Johnson. His design was somewhat cruder and the holes look like they were hand-cut. A more refined version was made but still did not make it. 196 ring cent patterns are known to exist. The picture belongs to eagle eye rare coins. thanks for reading WL