1976 D Penny 0 Crack on Lincoln's face

Here is a 1976 D Penny that has a defect on Lincoln's face. Not sure if this is a cracked die or lamination error. Also, the D mint mark appears crooked

I would appreciate any insight on this

 

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Not a defect…it is PMD. Not a cracked die or a lamination error. The mint marks in the ‘70s were applied to the working dies before use and with hundreds of die pairs you are going to see some that are crooked. Very common.

That coin, my friend, is a spender…imo…Spark

 

First off, Welcome to CoinTalk!
Secondly, call a medic. Lincoln done got himself messed up. Mike Tyson fight? PMD.

 

This looks like a crack to me....I trust your opinion, but thought I would show different angle

 

Thanks for the additional photo. However, I still stand by my initial assessment which is Post Mint Damage.

 

The mint marks were added to the die by hand using a counterstamp. They weren't always perfect.

 

Trust me, it is not a crack. It is a deep gouge.

When the gouge was made, the soft metal was pushed up toward and over the cheek and toward the tip of the nose creating a huge valley the entire length: from the eyebrow to the bottom of the cheek.

The metal on either side of the valley of the gouge has been smoothed-over by circulation wear, making it appear as though it is a raised line similar to a linear die crack.

Your original pic illustrates the gouge, your additional angle pic illustrates the wear of the moved metal…imo…Spark

 

Additional info: The 1976 Denver Lincoln Memorial Cent had a mintage of over 4.221 billion. At 1 million coins per die pair, that means 4,221 die pairs were used to produce the Denver cents that year. The chances for ending up with some crooked mintmarks were high.

Over all the 1976 mintage figures for Philly and Denver combined is over 8.8 billion…Spark

 

Afraid it’s damaged.