You may think you know this Indian Head Cent variety, but look again!
Only one obverse Indian Head Cent die has been seen with this broken digit punch, which also exhibits a fabulous misplaced date. The MPD can be a great way to identify this variety from the other broken punches of this date. Interestingly, this bold misplaced digit was photographed and cataloged by Kevin Flynn in the mid 1990s.
However, it remained unpublished until 2015 by IndianVarieties.com. Rick Snow had attributed this coin for the deteriorated date punch, but the MPD went unattributed until its rediscovery by Russell Doughty. It just goes to show, sometimes it takes more than one look – or sometimes a few hundred looks – before you see the obvious. Exciting new Flying Eagle and Indian Head Cent varieties await us!
It’s pretty cool that new varieties are still being found–after 140 years!