What's important in a well-struck indian cent

tjkillian

What is important to you in the indian cent series? Full feather tips? Four full diamonds? Sheild on reverse? Me, I prefer a well struck indian cent to luster any day. Sure, luster is very nice, but I would rather have subdued luster and a a fully-struck coin any day. Also, I prefer a nice, uniform color of R/B over a spotty red, as well. Perfect reds are just too scarce and expensive.

I'm a feather tip and diamond kind of guy

Tom

dorkkarl

i'm assuming you also desire a early die-state. ie. an excellent strike from a heavily worn die results in a well-struck indian that's still not up to par.

i look at the tips of the feathers 1st. check out the "veining" of the leaves on the reverse 2d.

K S

Numismanic

Tom

I like a well struck indian cent too. What attracts me the most is color, especially with proofs. I try to find them with nice even color or with a nice contrast between the fields and devices. I avoid ones with spotting which tends to be more common with alot of them.

Don

toothpuller

Feather tips then diamonds for strike is right on. The shield is a bonus as the obverse counts more.

Personally, I prefer a lustrous red coin with a little weakness in the strike to a well struck RB. But that is just what gives me the biggest charge. Consistency of color is important to me also. Original reds come in many shades which is fine as long as the coin is pretty much homogenous is color.

Carbon spots are deal killers though I can sometimes accept a few specks.

Its great if you can get it all at a reasonable price. Guess that's why I'm working mostly on a 78 to 09S set.

MacCoin

I like well struck IHC the most important to me is the 64L

tjkillian

I just bought a gorgeous 1897 indian cent in MS-64Red from Rick Snow. It has the best color for an affordable indian, very uniform. A few marks, but the color and uniformity is THERE! Much better strike than normal for the date: excellent feather tips.

Tom