1907 Indian Head Cent Repunched Date FS-302 Snow-2

Description

Designated FS-302 in the Fivaz-Stanton reference and Snow-2 in the J.T. Stanton attribution system, this 1907 Indian Head Cent displays a repunched date where the original 90 digits were first punched north of their final position. The northward shift of the 90 is the primary diagnostic — under magnification, remnants of the initial punch placement appear as ghost images above the final date position, creating subtle secondary serifs and curves displaced upward from where the 9 and 0 ultimately settled. This directional shift is critical for distinguishing FS-302 from the separate FS-301 variety on the same date, which shows the opposite displacement: a southward shift of 907. The existence of two 1907 Indian Head Cent repunched date varieties with opposing displacement directions on different obverse dies demonstrates the inherent imprecision of the manual date-punching process used throughout the Indian Head Cent series (1859-1909), where four-digit date logotypes were hammered into individual working dies by hand. The 1907 Indian Head Cent was struck at the Philadelphia Mint in 95% copper / 5% tin-zinc composition at 3.11 grams, with a mintage of approximately 108.1 million pieces. James Barton Longacre's design, featuring Liberty wearing a Native American headdress on the obverse and a wreath-enclosed shield on the reverse, was in its penultimate years of production when this die was prepared. Collectors should examine the date digits at 10x to 15x magnification under raking light angled from the south to maximize contrast between the primary date position and the residual northward-shifted punch impression.

Attribution History

• FS-302, Snow-2