I am woefully lacking in references outside of the Indian Head Cent. I've looked online but have come up short identifying this date anomaly. Any insight appreciated.
Certainly looks like an RPD. But I don't have a good reference for Shield nickels so I can't give any further help.
It sure would be some pains taking work to be altered and to precise to be PMD. Have you ever tried to pick out some crud with a toothpick and a microscope? I'm leaning towards RPD but I can't find one like it online.
While your Nickel does not look like the Red Book example, 1866 Shield Nickels had a repunched date. I'm sure the mint has more than one Die so there should be more than one style of the date of it's repunched. This is not a Nickel that I have studied or collected a full set of so best to investigate further. I'm not convinced of MD at all on this coin.
That is the best explanation I have been given and the reason I like it is that you provided proof. I think that sometimes it is to easy to explain the unexplainable is to assign the PMD tag. Thank you for this.
There are a fair number of repunched dates and other errors, many of them probably unlisted. There would have been around 1,000 die pairs for the shield nickel that year.
That looks like a re-punched date. There are a few known varieties for the 1866. They are also highly sought after by collectors.
Mabey instead of putting that i should've said it didn't exactly come looking like that when it left the mint which is what I ment to say.
On Heritage Auction site they have an AU 1866 / 1866 shield nickel being auctioned off. Check it out.
