One more coin to look at here. This is my 1866 indian head cent. This coin's details are pretty sharp. I can see three diamonds under glass. The liberty is sharp and the edges are sharp. The word "AMERICA" on the obverse is extremely weak. Almost to the point to where it is non-existent. Any possible explanations? Maybe a weak strike? Thanks for looking.
Its probably from a grease filled die and the neck area looks like it was effected too. Its hard to tell, but your cent looks to have a fairly strong repunched date, unless I'm seeing things...
These are usually viewed as defective strikes, and it's sometimes hard to sell them for the price of a problem-free coin. But then you have Ebay, where people list them as extremely rare error coins.