1899 Repunched Date WRPD-002

Description

Presenting a complex triple-punched date reading 1899/18/1, this Liberty Head Nickel variety shows repunching of both the 1 and the 8, with the secondary impressions positioned west of the primary digits, plus an additional 1 punched south of the primary 1 — three distinct impressions creating a layered date anomaly that reflects multiple corrective attempts by the die engraver. The Wexler Team cataloged this as 1899 5c WRPD-002 with no other known cross-references. Obverse die markers include a light north-south die scratch through the left side of the lower right star, while reverse diagnostics feature a plus-shaped (+) die scratch inside the C of CENTS and northwest-southeast die scratches through the first A and the M of AMERICA. Charles Barber's Liberty Head Nickel design, produced from 1883 through 1912, features a left-facing Liberty wearing a coronet inscribed LIBERTY, surrounded by thirteen stars with the date below. In this era, date logotypes were punched individually into each working die by hand, and the 1899/18/1 sequence suggests the engraver first punched a partial date (the 1), then a more complete set (18), before finally setting the full 1899 in its final position — or alternatively, made two corrective repunchings to adjust the date's placement, depth, or angle. The west and south displacement directions on the different digits indicate the punch was shifted between impressions, creating the overlapping images that define this RPD. The Liberty Head Nickel series' final years (pre-1913) carry particular collector interest, and RPDs on these coins document the craft of 19th-century die preparation with remarkable precision.

Attribution History

• Discovered by John Roberts Cross References: None known
• None known; Wexler Variety ID: 1899 5¢ WRPD-002
• Expert attribution by Wexler Team

External References