1895 Indian Head Cent Repunched Date FS-303 Snow-20

Description

A dual-attributed repunched date variety for the 1895-P Indian Head Cent, listed as both FS-303 in the Cherrypickers Guide and Snow-20 in the Snow reference for Indian Head Cents — two independent attribution systems that together confirm the variety's standing in the literature. The original 895 was punched east of the final accepted position before being corrected, leaving displaced secondary impressions of the 8, 9, and 5 to the right of the final date numerals. FS-303 and Snow-20 represent the same die but differ from the related FS-301 (Snow-1) variety, which documents a different die exhibiting eastward repunching — distinguishable by die-marker evidence and the different Snow reference number. The 1895-P Indian Head Cent was struck in bronze — 95% copper, 5% tin and zinc — at the Philadelphia Mint under James B. Longacre's design. Eastward date repunches arise when the logotype or digit punches are applied too far east before being repositioned to the left, a routine correction in the hand-punching era that occasionally left detectable secondary impressions in the die steel.

Attribution History

• FS-303, Snow-20