What exactly is wrong with this flying eagle cent?

I will begin by saying that I've never been a particularly huge fan of flying eagle cents, sorry, but I still wanted to add one eventually to my collection for the sake of completeness. I found one fairly budget, below, which I will say it's straight graded by PCCS. I wont list the grade as I welcome any people who want to take a stab at it without pre-bias, though I will say I think PCGS was a little generous with their grade....it's ok, I didn't pay much for this example.



But that's not my question really, my question has more to do with the unevenness of the lettering and the faint one. Was this a recurring problem with these, or his mine just particularly.....how shall we put it, odd?

Would you classify it as an uneven strike? Die wear? Grease on die? Just curious what you folks think of it.

 

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Flying Eagle cent - Wikipedia
The Mint had trouble striking the new design. This was due to the hard copper-nickel alloy and the fact that the eagle on one side of the piece was directly opposite parts of the reverse design; efforts to bring out the design more fully led to increased die breakage. Many Flying Eagle cents show weaknesses, especially at the eagle's head and tail, which are opposite the wreath.

 

I should have just read Wikipedia. LOL. But I figured there was a fancier explanation. Thanks for the response though, much appreciated.

Anyway, in my extimation this is an XF-40. PCGS thought it was XF-45. There, I'll say it. I talked down prices and negotiated it as if it was XF-40. Or maybe my instinct was atrocious and it's even lower, like an XF-35. LOL.

Still, it wasn't expensive and it fills a hole in the collection, so I'm happy with it no matter the true grade, and I guess that's what really matters

 

You keep falling into nice variety coins as this specimen is an FND- 001 cross reference S-7 FSI -004 1857 clashed with liberty $20. Plus it was a greaser struck though grease.

Should you go to an FEC /IHC look up the variety yours is hard to see as it struck through grease. Look in the mouth there's two eyes in the mouth. Look very carefully you'll see the clashes both obv. And rev.

BTW an R-7 premiun factor 12 to 18 times retail for grade. Roughly a very sought after variety. $800-$950 in Au,
coinhttps://www.indianvarieties.com/cents/flying_eagle_cents/1857-flying-eagle-penny/obverse-of-1857/1857-mdc-001/


https://indiancentvarieties.com/1857_variety005.html

Lastly nothing is wrong...everything is right for a snow #7

 

Certainly a weak strike, and possibly some grease. A great example of the mint's difficulty in striking them. I agree with the XF 40, but the weak strike on the reverse makes it look almost like a VG-F.

 

With the FEC, the 88-12 Copper-Nickel alloy was much harder than anything the mint had struck before. And the relatively large breast of the bird area required a lot of metal flow to strike up.

The IHC in 1859 were a little better - lower relief on the bust. Still, the mint essentially gave up and switched to the Bronze composition in 1864.

You see similar teething pain/difficulties in the 75-25 Shield Nickels when they started up in 1865 (the few without die cracks are more the exception than the rule).

 

100% gospel correct! Except shields were first srtuck in 1866
Die life of a shield obv or rev die < 10,000 strikes before total failure. Roughly $500.00 worth of coins per die pair.

 

Yep. Fat finger/poor memory.

Thing to recall is that they didn't have modern die steels, nor tools like indirect read thermometers and gas fired furnaces. Tempering dies was all done by eye based on color. You had to hit a small middle between too soft, too hard, and just right.

Sorry Momma bear, that die is trash.

 

Shields have always been this variety collector favorite... it took me 15 years to track down a bleeder in the wild.... but I found 1.

 

The other thing I find interesting is how many collectors think it wear over strike . Plus lay an 1865 ihc next to a flying eagle and see the thickness differences and imagine trying to imprint an image in such hard medals.
How much tonnage one would need.

 

Hold on....you serious? And here I wasn't sure if I was getting a good deal at $185....final negotiation price.

You saying this FND-001 is a clash coin, super rare variety, and worth potentially several times what I paid? I'm in shock. That's almost as shocking as my 3 cents nickel FS-301 variety with the 1 through the neck that wasn't attributed which is worth twice what I paid for it because there was no variety attributed on the NGC label for that coin. Wow

 

Im going to reserve my judgment, so far all I have are seller photos and PCGS photo, but I'll take a closer look when I get it.

Regardless of whether it is a clash or not, that coin has a lot of cool "mint quality control issues" that are fun with the weak strike and grease. Definitely more going for it than simply just a run of the mill coin with no character, that for sure. Thanks @Paddy54

 

"You saying this FND-001 is a clash coin, super rare variety, and worth potentially several times what I paid? I'm in shock. That's almost as shocking as my 3 cents nickel FS-301 variety with the 1 through the neck that wasn't attributed which is worth twice what I paid for it because there was no variety attributed on the NGC label for that coin. Wow"

No the pups and the attribution guides are saying so...all Im doing is telling you what I see.
Its a grease strike... on a 1857 fec a snow # 7 and a good pick as the seller was clueless as to the value of this variety..

 

Want a matched set? Now find an 1857 Seated liberty quarter clashed with a fec .
https://www.pcgs.com/coinfacts/coin/1857-25c-fs-901-rev-die-clashed-flying-eagle-cent/146037


https://www.greatcollections.com/Co...-901-PCGS-XF-40AU-50-2-Coins-MultiCoin-Holder

And for the record there's " 2" 1857 fec clashed with the $20 liberty the snow 7 and snow 8.
You should consider joining Coneca since you're landing so many nice variety coins.... Tell Them....Paddy sent ya.... only $25 @ year!

 

Here's a 1857 fec I picked that actually an 1856 die reworked and 1857 struck using the 56 dies.
Picked it under $50.

 

Here's what the 1857 seat Liberty quarter looks like.

 

I'm not seeing where these obvious clash marks you're referencing are on his coin...

 

The obv . Clashes as well as several eyes as well doubled eyes , there also lettering that confirms the variety.

The mpd's in the denticals match also below each digit there's another. As well the date position 1857 denticles .014 .015 .015 .010 matches.

When hunting fec one must learn all the pups as some may be obscure. Prime example 1858/7 Lg. Letter over date .


Find a broken wing tip ?
how about a dot over the date under the eagles belly ?
Or the positive id is a die chip under the 8 in the date shaped like a triangle bingo !
You found the over date.
As well the 7's top seen NE over the 8 .
Again grease struck
In a medal almost twice as thick as a normal cent thickness.

 

I can't see it either.

 

One thing we can with confidence say, @Paddy54 is seeing things.

At any rate, be that as it may, here's the overlay from Rick's website. As we can see there's no mistaking where the clashing is on the genuine article...