Indian Head Cents

thanks for the web hookup, I was wondering...
I cant post pics right now but if some one has { THE Cherry Pickers Guide, 4TH EDITION VOLUME ONE } please look on page 82. There are 2 different 1899 double die coins. the dates shown appear to be different, like a closed 9's and open 9's. the date on the top is flat and the bottom is more curved.

does any one know of a date variation for this year?

here is the first of the two coins,

The two pictures are of RPDs, or repunched dates.
They aren't doubled dies, since the date is added after hubbing.
This happens when the date punch is pressed into the die, repositioned and impressed again.
Later, the fields are polished down to remove the underlying digits, but often traces remain as pictured above.

Yeah...in 1873, two different date punches were used, resulting in the close and open varieties.
As for the 9 digits touching or gapped, that usually is a result of die wear; they close up over time.
Are you talking about the "flat" bottom on the first 9 in the first picture? That may be due to overlap of punched digits.

or the other way around, fat then rounded.

I think they never made any 9 punches they just turned the 6 puch over!

The 9 or 6 would close up as the die was stressed through use and then polished over it's life, there is a big difference from new fresh dies and old worn dies, especially in areas on the die like the loops of almost closed numbers. The famous 1868/9 looking 2¢ piece I collect. the key beyond the diecrack on my Two Cent is the closing of the 9 loop. If it doesn't have the closed loop you can quit looking. It came about from die wear as the overdate was roved not to be only a die break and die wear that caused ti to look like an 8 underneath. when actually it was the 9 loop closing up from worn dies along with a small die crack going through the date as the die was pushed to the end of it's life. I'm sure the last coin struck before it shattered was pretty cool looking!