1897 Indian Head Cent Misplaced Date FS-401 Snow-1

Description

Cross-referenced as both FS-401 in the Fivaz-Stanton Cherrypickers' Guide and Snow-1 in the Snow attribution system, this 1897 Indian Head Cent displays a misplaced date variety where the digit 1 is visible protruding from Liberty's neck above the necklace on the obverse — a position far removed from the normal date location below the portrait. Misplaced dates occurred during the era of hand-punched dates when a die preparation specialist accidentally impressed one or more date digits into an unintended area of the die face before correctly positioning the complete date in its proper location. The remnant of the mispositioned 1, embedded within the neck detail above the necklace, could not be removed without damaging the surrounding portrait features, so it remained on the die and transferred to every coin struck thereafter. The Fivaz-Stanton FS-401 designation confirms this as a recognized Cherrypickers variety — one actively sought by collectors examining dates in circulation, with the Snow-1 cross-reference providing an alternative attribution pathway in the Snow catalog of Indian Head Cent varieties. James Barton Longacre designed the Indian Head Cent series (1859-1909), featuring Liberty wearing a Native American feathered headdress on the obverse and a wreath encircling ONE CENT on the reverse. Composed of 95% copper and 5% tin and zinc, the coin weighs 3.11 grams with a 19.05 mm diameter. The 1897 date had a mintage of approximately 50.5 million pieces, all struck at the Philadelphia Mint. Misplaced date varieties are among the most visually dramatic die preparation errors because the displaced digit appears in an area of the design where no numeral belongs, making the anomaly immediately recognizable to collectors familiar with the variety even without magnification on well-preserved examples.

Attribution History

• FS-401, Snow-1