Expert: Jim Lawniczak - 7/28/2007

Question
we have found what seems to be an indian head penny from 1801.  Considering they weren't made back then could it be that this was an error penny? And if so how much is it worth now?

Answer
Hello, Debbie, you are correct, unless time travel has been invented your cent was not made in 1801.  The most likely explanation is that you have what was originally a 1901 indian cent for some reason (we'll try to figure out why), it now looks like 1801.  The most likely explanation is that someone worked on your cent after it left the mint and carved the "9" in the date into an "8."  Look on your coin for evidence that that happened, perhaps a tooling mark around the "8."  Another possibility is that something happened to the die when your piece was struck -- perhaps there was a die chip or break right at the "9" in the date, making it look like an "8."  In the first case, with an alteration of the piece after minting, your coin would have no value, probably even reduced numismatic value.  If something happened at the mint to cause this to happen, then your piece would indeed have extra value.  The only way to tell for sure is to have an expert look at your piece, perhaps at a local coin shop or at a coin show.  Go to www.google.com and do a search for coin show and your city and then coin shop and your city and see what comes up, Jim Lawniczak