1903 Indian Cent

I think its ware

Hi Miterman,

On such a worn cent you probably wouldn't be able to see much evidence of a die clash.

I think what you have here is a cent that was damaged by someone punching in some design, or maybe by squeezing the coin in a vise. This was probably done long ago and the design (whatever it was) is mostly worn down, along with the original details of the ooin. Interesting, but not a die clash or any other kind of mint error, IMO.

I would say it is coin damage from a hit somewhere in it's life. It it were part of a clash, the area affected would be raised and so pushed into the coin. The die would have to be damaged and this always from that point on leave raised marks near the fields. The deeper part of the die (Devices highest on the coin) would not be touched during a die clash as they are deep into the die. The edges of the devices leave marks on the fields ad that is the only part that actually touches. A mark into the deeper parts of the die usually don't happen. This if the devices that are the highest on a coin are affected, it would be coin damage and not die damage on the higher details.