1900 Indian Head Cent Repunched Date FS-301 Snow-1

Description

Cross-referenced as FS-301 in the Fivaz-Stanton Cherrypickers' Guide and as Snow-1 in Rick Snow's comprehensive Indian Head Cent variety reference, this 1900 Indian Head Cent displays a repunched date variety where the original last 0 was initially punched northeast of the final date position. The northeast shift of the 0 serves as the key diagnostic for this variety, with the remnant of the mispositioned initial impression visible to the upper right of the correctly placed final 0. Repunched dates on Indian Head Cents resulted from the manual date punching process at the Philadelphia Mint, where four-digit date logotypes were hammered by hand into each individual working die. When the punch made initial contact at an incorrect position — in this case shifted to the northeast — the engraver repositioned and applied a corrective blow at the intended location, but the first impression's remnant in the die steel was permanent and appeared on every coin struck from that die. The 1900 Indian Head Cent was designed by James Barton Longacre and struck at the Philadelphia Mint in bronze composition (95% copper, 5% tin and zinc) weighing 3.11 grams with a diameter of 19.05 mm. The 1900 date marks the beginning of the final decade of Indian Head Cent production, which ended in 1909 when the Lincoln Cent replaced it. The 1900 had a mintage of approximately 66.8 million pieces. The Snow-1 designation as the primary variety number for this date indicates it is either the first documented or the most prominent repunched date known for the 1900 Indian Head Cent, and the dual Cherrypickers and Snow cross-references confirm it as a recognized variety in the standard attribution literature actively sought by Indian Head Cent specialists.

Attribution History

• FS-301, Snow-1