1877 Indian - Altered Date? 0

[worthingtoncoin]

Hello friends, I have what appears to be an 1877 Indian Cent, with what looks like a potential altered date. It also doesn't have a weak reverse, but before I took a closer look at the date I thought it could potentially be a heavily circulated proof.

Attached is the image, my thoughts are an altered 1879?

[Sandon]

   Welcome to the NGC chat board.   

   The obvious signs of tooling in and around the date of your purported 1877 Indian cent identify it as a likely altered date. None of the digits of the date exactly matches that of the similarly circulated example from my own collection shown in the photo below, which NGC subsequently certified and graded VG 10. The lack of a weak "N" in "CENTS" on the reverse is also inconsistent with a circulation strike 1877. The date on your coin doesn't match that on the proof example shown on the NGC Coin Explorer either. I don't know what date it started out as, though it was clearly made from a coin minted between 1864 (L) and 1886 (last feather pointing between "I" and "C". The one date it clearly wasn't is 1877!

 

[powermad5000]

In my opinion, none of the numerals appear to be correct. As in the example provided by Sandon of a genuine coin, on an 1877, all the numerals at the bottom are in line with each other except for the last 7 which is slightly below the other three. On your coin, the base of the 1 does not extend far enough away from the 8 to the left. The 8 seems smaller than all the other numerals. the first 7 is higher than all the other numerals, and the position and shape of the last 7 is just terrible. I also see depressions around the two 7's indicating material was removed in this area. Most certainly not genuine.

[worthingtoncoin]

Agreed