1883 Repunched Date WRPD-001

Description

Repunching to the south on the numeral 1 distinguishes this 1883 Shield Nickel variety, cataloged as WRPD-001 by the Wexler Team with cross-references to Flynn NC RPD-003 and Flynn NC RPD-001. The obverse shows a die crack through the bottom of the date as an additional attribution marker, while the reverse is the "No CENTS" type — the original 1883 design that omitted the word CENTS, leading to widespread gold-plating fraud and the rapid introduction of the "With CENTS" variety later that year. Repunched dates on Shield Nickels occurred when a date digit punch was impressed into the die, then repositioned and struck again, leaving traces of the first impression visible alongside the final placement. The southward shift on the 1 means the initial punch landed slightly higher than the final position. Shield Nickels were struck from 1866 through 1883, with the 1883 serving as the terminal year of the series before being replaced by the Liberty Head design. The relatively brief eighteen-year run of the Shield type, combined with cruder die preparation techniques of the post-Civil War era, produced a number of repunched date varieties that were not formally cataloged until modern variety research developed systematic attribution methods. The Wexler Variety ID 1883 5-cent WRPD-001 places this as the primary repunched date listing for the date.

Attribution History

• Discovered by Not noted Cross References: Flynn: NC RPD-001
• Flynn: NC RPD-001; Wexler Variety ID: 1883 5¢ V WRPD-001
• Expert attribution by Wexler Team

External References