1888 Indian Head Cent - 8/7

Coin Details

Auction Record

Description

This is the 1888/7 overdate variety of the 1888 Indian Head Cent. Dies were expensive, and a serviceable die left over at the end of a year was often kept and re-dated rather than destroyed: the new digits were punched directly over the old ones. The earlier date survives underneath wherever its strokes fall outside the digits punched over it, which is why an overdate is read from the shapes that do not belong to the date as printed. The effect is in the die, so every coin struck from it carries the same remnant in the same position. Any mintage or rarity ranking given below counts the entire issue for this date and mint, not this variety: a variety comes from one die or a few, and how many coins they struck was never separately recorded. A cent from the Philadelphia Mint, the 1888 Indian Head Cent - 8/7 belongs to the Indian Head Cents 1859-1909 series. The 1888 Indian Head Cent issue as a whole had a mintage of 37.5 million; how many coins carry this variety is unknown. The obverse features Liberty wearing a feathered headdress, often misidentified as a Native American — actually represents Liberty adorned with a chief's war bonnet and the reverse displays an oak wreath with a shield at the top, enclosing ONE CENT. Struck during the Gilded Age of rapid industrialization and the great silver debates, when monetary policy shaped elections and economic destiny. Philadelphia's mint — the nation's first — has produced coins without interruption since its founding in 1792. Struck in 95% copper, 5% tin and zinc, weighing 3.11 grams, 19 mm in diameter, with a plain edge. Cataloged as PCGS #2169.

Cross References

FS-301