1895 Indian Head Cent Repunched Date FS-302 Snow-9

Description

This 1895 Indian Head cent exhibits a Repunched Date variety cataloged as FS-302 in the Fivaz-Stanton numbering system and Snow-9 in Rick Snow's attribution guide. The key diagnostic for this variety is that the original 18 was punched southeast of the final date position, with the southeast shift of the first two digits clearly visible under magnification. The last two digits appear to have been correctly positioned on the initial punch, making the displacement concentrated on the leftmost portion of the date. This distinguishes it from the FS-301 variety, which shows an eastward shift of the 895 digits. The 1895 Indian Head cent was struck at the Philadelphia Mint with a mintage of 38,341,574 pieces, composed of 95% copper and 5% tin and zinc, weighing 3.11 grams with a 19 mm diameter. Repunched dates on Indian Head cents are particularly prized by variety collectors because the individual digit punches used during this era were applied by hand, making each repunching unique. James Barton Longacre's Indian Head design, first introduced in 1859, features Liberty wearing a Native American headdress on the obverse with an oak wreath and shield on the reverse. The repunching on this variety reflects the pre-20th century die preparation process where date digits were individually entered into the working die using separate punches, a procedure that occasionally resulted in misaligned initial impressions.

Attribution History

• FS-302, Snow-9