Another nice little batch of Indians were sent in for attribution. The 1874 ODD-004 features a very prominent hub-through in Liberty’s portrait. Unfortunately, the NGC slab in which it is housed is beat up pretty good, so the photos are not the best. Hub-throughs are generally not considered die varieties as they are somewhat common. For instance, hub-throughs usually appear fiber-like in the denticles or other unnoticeable areas. However, the 1874 ODD-004 shows a very tremendous hub-through which should be easy to spot in grades of Fine or better.
Two additional 1880 Broken Digit Punch varieties, 1880 PUN-009 and 1880 PUN-010, have been added. A couple of these broken punch varieties from 1880 show degradation of the same digit punch, but most of the broken digit punch varieties are distinguishable from one another. This epiphany alludes that there must have been a lot of 1880 digit punches made; far more than just 2 or 3 different digit punches were used. It makes me wonder if there was a problem with the matrix or matrices that produced the punches.
I also noticed something on the 4 as well as in the denticles–RPD/MPD or just hub-through?
IMHO, it is very unlikely to be a RPD. Jim actually sent two of these. The extra lump in the base of the 4 is probably a hub-through, damage, or maybe even a crack/deterioration. The denticles exhibit a hub-through as well – very likely the same type of fiber that cause the hub-through in Liberty’s portrait. These are great die markers, however!
Russ