Most pieces are less than fully struck. Weakness most often appears on the eagle's head and tail, as these features were opposite the wreath and thus had to compete its die cavity for metal fill.
This date is notable for its many popular varieties. A small number of 1857 cents were coined with an obverse die or dies taken from the hub Type of 1856. These are recognizable by the squared inside of the O in OF and by the sharply tilted letters AM in AMERICA.
Three intriguing die-clash varieties are known in which the obverse came came into contact with dies of the quarter dollar, half dollar or double eagle. The most often seen of these is the half dollar clash.
Several doubled-die and repunched date varieties are also known for this issue. The great number of dies required to coin over 17 million pieces made such varieties nearly inevitable.
Coin Specifications: Weight 4.67 grams; Composition 88% copper, 12% nickel; diameter 19mm.
Mintage:
| Philadelphia |
| 17,450,000 |