1864 1C Bronze No L Indian Cent, Struck 15% Off Center AU58 PCGS. 1864 Indian Cent, Bronze, No L, Struck 15% Off Center. Here is a near-Uncirculated, Civil War dated 1864 bronze Indian Cent that has been struck 15% off center. It comes with the provenance of the Larry Rausch Collection of Errors, lot 6380 from the Malibou Lake Collection. The coin is well struck with full details on the tips of the feathers, the diamonds of the ribbon, the leaves of the wreath, and the elements of the shield. The surfaces are deep brown and show just a slight trace of wear on the highest points. The coin is struck off center at 9 oclock. The letters in UNITED and most of STATES are up against the left border. At 3 oclock there is a wide arc of unstruck metal with a couple of small digs in the unstruck portion.

James B. Longacre designed the Indian Cent. The obverse shows Liberty facing left in profile wearing a LIBERTY inscribed headdress. Her hair is combed back and over her ear and flows down beneath the truncation. A band with four diamonds is attached to the back of the headdress and comes over her hair past the truncation. She is surrounded with the inscription UNITED STATES OF AMERICA with the date below. The reverse shows the denomination written as ONE CENT surrounded by an oak wreath with a Union shield at the top and a ribbon holding the parts of the wreath and three arrows together below. Dentils are around the periphery of both sides of the coin, and the edge is plain.
 
An off-center coin is made by a striking error. During the striking process, the planchet fails to seat properly in the collar and is not correctly aligned between the dies. Off-center coins are described by the percentage of the design that is missing and the direction according to its clock position. For example a coin might be 50% off-center at 3:00. In the case of a Lincoln cent, such an error coin would be missing the date and the word TRUST.

Indian Cent major errors are always in demand and sought after by Indian Cent and error cent collectors.