1895 Indian Head Cent Repunched Date FS-301 Snow-1

Description

Designated FS-301 and Snow-1, this 1895 Indian Head Cent repunched date variety shows the original 895 punched east of the final date position. The key diagnostic for attribution is the eastward shift visible on three of the four date digits — the 8, 9, and 5 — where the initial punch impressions appear displaced to the right of the corrected final positions. In the hand-punching era of 19th-century die manufacture, individual date logotypes or digit punches were driven into the working die face by a press operator, and any positional error on the first attempt required a corrective second punch, leaving both impressions visible on every coin subsequently struck from that die. The 1895 Indian Head cent was struck at the Philadelphia Mint in bronze composition (95% copper, 5% tin and zinc) at 3.11 grams and 19.05 mm diameter, with a business strike mintage of 38,341,574 pieces. James Barton Longacre's obverse design depicts Liberty wearing a Native American-style feathered headdress, while the reverse features a wreath of oak leaves and a shield enclosing ONE CENT. As the Snow-1 designation confirms, this is the most prominent repunched date variety known for the 1895 business strike, and its inclusion in the Cherry Pickers' Guide under FS-301 signals its recognition as a variety worth seeking in circulation finds and dealer inventories. Three visible digits of repunching make this one of the more visually dramatic RPD varieties in the Indian Head cent series.

Attribution History

• FS-301, Snow-1