1903 Indian Head Cent Misplaced Date FS-302 Snow-6

Description

Cross-referenced as FS-302 in the Fivaz-Stanton Cherrypickers' Guide and as Snow-6 in Rick Snow's comprehensive Indian Head Cent variety reference, this 1903 Indian Head Cent displays a misplaced date variety where the digit 0 was initially punched in the denticles below and to the right of the 0 in the final date position. This single-digit misplacement is distinct from the FS-301 variety for the same date, which shows 190 misplaced directly below the date — confirming these are two separate working dies that each experienced independent misplaced date events with different punch contact points on the die face. The rightward offset of the misplaced 0 suggests the date logotype contacted the die at a diagonal angle during the initial incorrect impression, with the punch making partial contact in the denticle border area before the engraver repositioned and applied the final correctly located date. Misplaced dates on Indian Head Cents resulted from the manual date punching process where four-digit date logotypes were hammered into each working die by hand, and the initial positioning attempt sometimes struck outside the intended field area of the die face. The 1903 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 dual Cherrypickers' Guide and Snow cross-references confirm this as a recognized variety in the standard attribution literature, and the FS-302 designation distinguishes it within the hierarchy of misplaced date varieties known for the 1903 date. Collectors should examine the denticle area below and slightly right of the 0 in the date under 10x magnification to locate the remnant impression.

Attribution History

• FS-302, Snow-6