1890 Indian Head Cent Misplaced Date FS-302 Snow-6

Description

This 1890 Indian Head cent exhibits a Misplaced Date variety cataloged as FS-302 in the Fivaz-Stanton reference and Snow-6 in Rick Snow's attribution guide. The key diagnostic is the top of a circular digit, either the 9 or the 0, punched into the denticles below the 9 in the date. During the die preparation process, the date punch was accidentally struck into the denticle area before being properly repositioned for the final impression. The partial circular impression visible in the denticles serves as the unmistakable pickup point for this variety. Misplaced dates are distinct from repunched dates in that the errant digit impression appears in the wrong location entirely, typically in the denticles or other design elements rather than simply being offset from the correct position. The 1890 Indian Head cent was produced at the Philadelphia Mint with a mintage of 57,180,114 pieces, struck in 95% copper and 5% tin and zinc, weighing 3.11 grams at 19 mm diameter. James Barton Longacre's Indian Head design was in its thirty-first year of production when this die was created. The 19th-century practice of hand-punching individual date digits into working dies inevitably produced misplaced dates when the die sinker's first hammer blow went astray, and these errors were sometimes left in the die rather than being polished out if they fell in an area that would be partially obscured by the denticle pattern on the finished coin. The FS-302 and Snow-6 designations confirm this as a recognized and cataloged variety.

Attribution History

• FS-302, Snow-6