Counter-stamped 1864 Indian head cent

[Ed (Upstate NY)]

Hit the old park this morning for a couple hours. With all the recent rain, the place was a swamp and the grass has grown to about 6 inches high. Could only manage a couple of Indian head cents and 3 wheaties. One of the Indian heads (a 1864) was counter-stamped 537 on the obverse and with what looks like "protection toe", with an 8 and something -73 on the reverse. I tried some google searches but came up empty. Other Indian head was just a normal 1904. Hope to get out again tomorrow morning.

 

[Elton]

I saw one something like that once.. It was a coat check for a Dance Ballroom...........No saying your is that, but the magazine of old articles I had showed a Penny counter stamped and that was the explanation for it. ?????????????????????

 

[bbqman]

Very interesting, Ed. That`s the way to hit it when it`s hard going !

 

[Eddie in Poulsbo]

Interesting find there Ed. HH.

Eddie

 

[MNCoinhunter]

Wow..don't see those every day...congrats !!!

 

[TokenDigger]

Cool finds. Believe it or there's a book on counterstamped coins "Merchant & Privately Countermarked Coins" by Greg Brunk. Unfortunately I could not find your coin listed. An Indian Head cent is an odd piece to counterstamp since it is so small. Most of the time large cents were used since they had a bigger area for the merchant to advertise their name, location, etc. Yours almost sounds like it was for a protective shoe company or it could be just a stray punch that some workman used to fool around with. Cool item any way you look at it. HH

 

[amc rulz]

n/t

 

[snevlida147]

cool thinking about where that coin might have been. cool find!!!!