Hello, I am brand new to this forum ! I recently dug this 1888 Indian Head out of the ground with my Metal detector. I find a lot of Indians, but never one that has generated as much disscussion and contraversay on the metal detecting forum I posted it on as this one has. A lot of people are Insisting it is an 8/7 over date. I have already took it to my local coin dealer and he said it did not have the subtle tell tale marks of the 8/7 over date and after he showed me in the books I agreed with him. He said it was a very odd coin though. It is strangely out of round and it is very worn ! He could not explain why the detail was almost completly worn in some areas of the coin but not in others.He said perhaps a double strike, or a miss strike , or just a damaged coin ??? What do you think ??? Sealouse
Look just left of the 1 and you will see part of your answer. The die broke and has sunk in the date area preserving it's detail while the rest of the coin received it's wear. It happened frequently in the mint's early days with larger coins and dies, but not as often by the time your coin was minted. It should make an interesting Snow variety attribution for those studying Indian Varieties.
