On Finding Overdates And Repunched Dates.

Recently, my collecting interest has grown towards finding die varieties such as repunched dates and overdates, and I thought I'd write a brief article on the process I've so far learned to find these coins.

Firstly, I've found that repunched dates are much easier to find than overdates. Relative scarcity is one reason, but with an RPD, the coin often provides its own clear reference for the repunching. Can it possibly get any more obvious than this Indian Head cent?


Here the repunching is obvious, and easily spotted by collectors looking at the date.

However, overdates involve repunching a new date over a previously dated die that's reworked and dated using either punches or hubs, and are consequently much harder to spot since there are no common reference points. Consider this well-known overdate, where the arrow points to the only actual marker of a previous date:



Any guesses as to what this is? This is the 1858/7 Flying Eagle cent, which even in MS grade would be impossible to see unless you know where to look. I find it amazing that an overdate with such minute details is worth over 10X the normal coin in MS grades—but a lot of collectors want this coin. Therefore, given the money involved, I think it's important that collectors only buy such overdates that are authenticated by experts.

On the far opposite of the experts are collectors like me who simply look for overdates for fun. Recently, I have started looking at Sweden coins because there are a number of overdates from 1906-1916. To that end, it's helpful to have some knowledge of which year/denomination has overdates; it's simply a waste of time to search every year and you're likely to "see" an overdate where there isn't one given an absence of reference on the coin in question.

For instance, Krause lists a 1906/5 overdate for Sweden's 2 ore coin. Knowing that, I ran across this coin at the show, where immediately I saw a little flag on the 6. Below is a shot of the complete date—see what I'm talking about? I think seeing something obvious is the first clue, versus squinting at a coin until your mind plays tricks on you.


The "flag" is quite distinct and is partially at the same relief as the 6. The secondary feature below is lighter but quite distinct under certain lighting angles.

Unfortunately, Krause doesn't show the markers for the 2 ore 1906/5, so I have to do some guesswork here. While overlays of the 5 digit might offer some clues, I find layering photographs can often be confusing. Instead, I traced an approximate outline from a 1905 coin to see if a 5 digit explains what I see. I should note here I drew the digit independently of my coin's features, and follows are two photos, one taken from the pic above, another taken from my QX5.



Another lighting angle from my QX5--it's very useful to study a coin from several angles.



I cannot say for certain this is the 1906/5, but isn't it interesting how a few features appear to line up without much trouble?
If you know any more about this coin, please add below...I'm always trying to learn more.