In 1908, the US mint in Philadelphia produced over 32 million Indian head cents. But less than 200 of them were made with this misplaced date error, according to the 'Cherry Pickers Guide, 4th Ed.- Vol. 1
That's a cool misplaced date. And it is the last year for misplaced dates as the Mint added the date to the Master Hub in 1909 (which meant the date no longer had to be punched into the working dies by hand). Only 200 were struck or only 200 have been documented? I would think many more than 200 were struck unless that die broke very, very early in its life.
This is where population reports come into question. For example, I have 55 examples of a doubled die variety that is usually listed as having between ten and twelve coins known. There is always a question as to how many of something still remains, how many are found, how many are reported, or how many were minted in the first place. We respect the numbers to a degree but we must always understand that they can be way off. In any case. That doesn't take away from the fact that this is a very nice coin!! Thanks, Bill
Bill: You beat me to it, about the population estimates. If Cherrypickers can say things like: unknown in unc, and then gives a value, how accurate can it be. They say only one know as of this time, then give values for four different grades. as the saying goes: COnsider the source.
I agree with you guys about the numbers. The "less than 200" figure is really the rarity factor, not the mintage. Red Book says its a URS 8. And that means known or thought to exist. Thanks for keeping me on my toes. :headbang: Bonehead
Something to consider is the number of coins struck per die. In the case of 1908, Rick Snow's guide estimates 400,000-500,000 coins were struck per obverse die, and 1908 IHCs have a higher survival rate than earlier years--particularly the 1870s. A URS 8 at publication of that book means that perhaps just one was found at that time. According to my CPG, I have a URS 8 coin too--but I found #10, and there are more than a dozen found now. This is the 1870 Snow-8, with the date punched 4 times into the denticles. It's a pretty cool coin too! For 1908, Snow records some 11 different dies with digits in the denticles. If you show the whole date, I'll try to figure out which one is yours. Nice find! :thumb: Pic of 1870 Snow-8:
Good to see the whole date! Based on the position of the mpd and date, I think this may be Snow-10, described as "9/9 (s), 8 in denticles". If so, that means there is also a light repunching of the 9, which I think I see here (arrow) :thumb:
Nice find! But I'm not sure about the Snow-10 attribution, the position of the 8 in the denticles looks off. And I really don't see that repunching of the 9. However, I do not see a better match in Snow.
I'm not positive either, but it's the closest I saw in Snow's attribution guide. Is it possibly a matter of lighting between photos? Seeing how Snow estimates 64-80 obverse dies, this could easily be a new one. For $4, he'll look at this coin and if a new variety, credit as a discovery piece. :thumb:
Actually, that is a great idea. I don't see any 9/9 and if you send it in to Rick Snow you'll know for sure. I did that with a Flying Eagle and I had a new variety attributed to me. Do it. You'll resolve the issue and may be quite surprised as to the outcome. Good luck. Bruce
Thanks to Hobo, jello, foundinrolls, treashunt, KurtS and acanthite for your responses. I learned a lot about date in denticles IHC's. I'm sure other readers picked up some good info also.............Share the knowledge Bone Head
