1868 Indian Head Cent Misplaced Date FS-301 Snow-8

Description

Cross-referenced as both FS-301 in the Fivaz-Stanton Cherrypickers' Guide and Snow-8 in the Rick Snow attribution system, this 1868 Indian Head Cent displays a misplaced date variety where one or more date digits were initially punched into an unintended area of the die — specifically visible in the lower denticles — before being correctly positioned in the proper date location above. Misplaced dates occurred during die preparation when the date logotype or individual digit punches were struck into the working die at an incorrect location on the first attempt, and the engraver then repositioned the punch and struck again in the correct position, leaving a faint remnant of the errant first impression embedded in the denticle area or other unintended zone. The 1868 Indian Head Cent was designed by James Barton Longacre and struck at the Philadelphia Mint — the only operating mint for cent production during this period — in 95% copper and 5% tin and zinc, weighing 3.11 grams with a 19.05 mm diameter. The 1868 date had a mintage of approximately 10.3 million pieces, continuing the lower-mintage trend of the late 1860s that makes coins from these years somewhat scarcer in collector grades than the higher-mintage issues of the following decade. The dual catalog references — FS-301 and Snow-8 — confirm this variety's recognition in two independent attribution systems, establishing it as a verified and actively collected die variety within the Indian Head Cent series. Collectors examining potential specimens should focus on the denticle region below the date under 7x-10x magnification, looking for faint remnants of digit forms that appear as ghost impressions in this normally featureless border zone of the coin.

Attribution History

• FS-301, Snow-8