Absolutely a shame value-wise, but to be honest, I kind of like and find it to be rather neat. Have you any ideas as to what caused the, well, indentations/lines? They do not appear to be simple scratches, at least from the photos, and seem to rounded to have been cut with a knife.
While just my most humble opinion, but that would be one hell of a good fake. I've no questions whatsoever about its authenticity. As an aside, a fair number of 20Cs can be found with an X of some sort on them. The story goes that this was done to differentiate them from the similarly-sized quarter even though of a different design. How true this is I do not know, but does make sense and would help to reasonably explain the number of X'ed 20Cs out there.
We are gathered hear today to mourn the loss of this beloved 1877 indian head cent.Does anyone have any last words? Owner: I've had this coin ever since I was a young lad we spent our lives together. It had the best color and strike that I have ever seen,but he will be in a better place now.
Ouch !!!!! On a beautiful coin regardless of date , but on a '77 . I wonder what went through the persons mind .
Yeah, those coins are always sad. I have a VF large sized capped bust quarter that is bent, and some other "trajedies". The only thing that lets you sleep at night is knowing this most likely was done contemporaneously, meaning they were not intending to deface an important US heirloom, but just messing with a common circulating coin.