Looking at a known good coin, I’d say the second coin posted is genuine and the first coin is the one with an altered date. In addition, we were told to disregard the scratches on the genuine coin and only the second coin has scratches ;-) Image source: https://www.thesprucecrafts.com/indian-head-penny-dates-rarities-varieties-768263
RogerC, posted: "I'll guess #2 being fake." Guesses are for rookies! Right or wrong, the more important thing is WHAT DO YOU SEE? @micbraun, I was waiting for someone to post an additional image of a genuine coin. Thanks. As to this: "We were told to disregard the scratches on the genuine coin and only the second coin has scratches. ;-) How long have you known that clown Insider? OK everyone, now there are two genuine images and one fake. WHAT DO YOU SEE?
Now I think the second coin is the fake. Serifs at the top of the 7 shouldn’t be perfectly round. Bottom serif of last 7 is slanted to the left, but should be straight. Flag is wrong, too. This confirms it :-D
Nope, the last "7" has the bottom blob straightened on the left, but it is on the example shown by micbraun, too. So yep, I'd still go with #2 as being legit.
What's different! I don't wish to keep turning back to page one. What I'm always trying to do is to get folks to DESCRIBE WHAT THEY SEE (to a blind man). That will eventually develop an EYE FOR DETAIL. The comments are getting a little better; but their is one OBVIOUS major difference in the shape of the 7's that has not been mentioned yet.
On #1 the flag of the 2nd 7 is definitely broader. on #2 it might be broader but hard to tell, but the "drumstick" of the 2nd 7 has a straight area rather than being smoothly rounded as in coin #1.
I’d say #2 is the convincing fake. I know the real 7s aren’t quite uniform. I see issues in #2 to the tone of length of the “flag” on the second 7, the flare is not straight up and down. The second one also has very uniform “flag” tops, something I don’t believe to be true on an authentic 1877.
Tough to compare my own to those.... excuse the photos. My sister is trying to teach me to take better pics. never thought it was worth getting slabbed in the shape that poor cent is in.
I'm going to say the Coin #1 is the fake. Both 7s are identical which leads me to believe that the coin is a 1876 or 1878. The first 7 is original to the coin and the second 7 was removed from another 1876/78 and added to the fake. I say this because those 7s also match the first 7 in Coin #2. So, coin #2 is the original. I will fully admit that I did not come up with this on my own...but used the clues and other comments on the first page of this thread to piece it together. I also fully understand my conclusion could be completely wrong.
The 7s don't match each other on genuine coins. The troughs outlined above are on a real coin -- one wider than the other. The corresponding troughs on the other coin are both too narrow.
If @Insider hadn’t prodded us to undertake this examination, I think I would have been deceived, unless of course the reverse was well struck. The left side of the top of the sevens should be straight and vertical. The corners of the serifs should be less rounded, as should the vertex where the horizontal stroke meets the upright stroke. Most noticeable to me is the difference in thickness at the tops of the vertical strokes of both numerals. The fake is much thicker in this area than all genuine coins I've looked at.
I still cannot get beyond the illusion that the first set appears incused. It throws off my perception of everything else.
In the second 7 in the second coin the top of the 'crown' (middle section) on the 'flag' is much narrower. The distance from the top of that crown to the bottom of the flag is much greater than the 7 on the left. In other words the bottom of the flag on the righthand 7 finishes lower than that of the one on the left. The bottom 'blob' of the 7 on the same coin from above is distorted and just not clean. The second coin is the very good fake.