1876 Indian Head--What is up with the date?

Is the way this date looks have to do with wear or what is the deal? I realize minting wasn't exact back then.

 

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Something looks way off with this coin. I have doubts about its authenticity.

Can you post a pic of the reverse?

 

Yes, the 8 in the date is suspicious and the whole coin looks 'flat.'

 

it is called fake

 

Here is my 1876. Look at the date closely. Every number in the date looks different than the coin pictured above.

I really hope you did not pay a bunch of money for your coin. You should definitely try to return the coin if you did buy it.

 

That sums it up.

 

Yep, details are mushy, it all looks off. I would highly suspect it is a counterfeit.

 

You guys are a lot better than the guys on the NGC forum. Over there it took several replies before anyone would call it a fake. And then several more before the general consensus started agreeing. You folks nailed it right off the bat.

 

I actually I first posted this coin over at Coin Community first asking to grade, critique, and estimate it's value. People started saying that they did not like that date and honestly I started getting suspicious that is a fake but was confused about how a fake would have issues that would decrease it's value. A few people there suspected a fake. I then posted it over at NGC to get confirmation of this and then to this forum. It looked bent and cleaned to me and maybe worth about $20 or so. I actually was refunded from the seller because there were delivery issues due to the way they bent the shipping label and envelope but when they finally arrived three weeks later, I repaid them through Paypal. I didn't want to just ask if it was fake since that would be a leading question suggesting suspicion. I really did not want to file yet another case against this seller since I already was refunded for not receiving the item. Perhaps I should have had it checked out first before repaying the seller through Paypal and wouldn't have to open another case. I realize that the seller may have not realized it was a fake but requested a refund minus the value of the two common cull coins that came with this coin. I am sure he would rather refund me than have me leave negative feedback something I don't want to do since he claims to be a new seller. I was going to flip the coin but could not as soon as its authenticity was questioned.

 

Actually the "1" was the one thing that got my attention the most. I could think to myself that the other numbers could have been smashed somehow, distorting them. This would not be the case because the one is actually thinner than other 1876 coins.

 

I am wondering about this post at the NGC web site:

Back in the 1960s Hewitt published a booklet that was a reprint from the "Numismatic Scrapbook" magazine that was about Indian Cent Date Varieties by Otto C. Steinberger. For what it's worth he stated that there were two date varieties of 1876 cents. I wish there were photos of these varieites in the booklet, but there are none.

Using his descriptions, the piece that started this thread looks like Captain Steinberger's variety #1, and my piece looks like variety #2.

This booklet from the 60s is for sale on Amazon. Is anyone familiar with these two different dates for an 1876 Indian Head cent? Has anyone seen these two different dates for this year?

 

The date "varieties" may just be different placement.

 

This is only a variety of a Chinese counterfeiter.

The varieties you read about are generally the position of the date in the field, or a repunched date.

 

Yes, this coin looks like the date was done with a soldering gun. No matter I received a refund for the coin minus a buck for the low grade/cull coins that came with it.

 

As far as the variety of the coin, it is the fake variety.