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

[timo16]

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

[michael]

very interesting coin

 

 

 

1-------------------could it be a really rare contemporary counterfeit

 

2------ is it a recent chinese counterfeit

 

3---- altered date on a genuine coin

 

 

unless i am so tired tonight i cant see straight

but i am sure the experts will chime in

[physics-fan3.14]

I do not think that coin is authentic.

[Raisethis2]

When minted, this year was thoroughly circulated and so examples found today are usually well worn. There were no varieties this year but a great many were struck with oil or water contamination causing a lack of detail.

 

There are counterfeits for this year but I think it's authentic but one affected by contamination.

 

It will be interesting to hear more advanced collectors chime in as the "6" looks way off to me.

[BillJones]

Here is a "for certain" ("certified by Bill") genuine piece you can use for comparisons. I've had "a thing" for this date since high school because it was one year away from glory.

 

 

 

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.

[CaptHenway]

Modern Chinese counterfeit, crudely "antiqued."

[Conder101]

Yep, fake. Long before this year the mint had standarized their date logotype, The dates on all the coins of a given year would be the same style differing only in size. Placement of the dates on each die could differ but not the style. So if you had two coins with different style dates, one was a fake. (Sometimes through the use of the wrong date punch you might have a series with large and small dates, but the date style would be the same.) This standardization took place sometime in the 1850's

[Keigwin]

Agreed. Fake. Here's a legitimate.

Lance.

 

[johnny9434]

that coin is bad in every way

[timo16]

No matter, I contacted the seller from Paypal and requested a refund for the coin and he refunded me. It came with a couple common cull looking cents so I paid him a buck for those but was refunded the rest. He probably didn't know it was fake.

[benjmurts]

Date is clearly altered

 

[Conder101]

Date isn't altered, coin is fake.

[CaptHenway]

No matter, I contacted the seller from Paypal and requested a refund for the coin and he refunded me. It came with a couple common cull looking cents so I paid him a buck for those but was refunded the rest. He probably didn't know it was fake.

 

Might I suggest that you keep an eye on the seller's listings to see if it reappears, or if he lists any other suspicious coins?

 

There are many people quietly selling Chinese fakes into the American market via eBay. He may be one of them. If you see anything suspicious post a link to it here, and some of us will check him out.