I was rolling coins yesterday when I found this 1992 no mintmark penny. I believe it might be an error. Here are some pictures: Obverse: Reverse: It looks like the edge is missing on part of it so instead of a full circle edge, it's only a crescent. It;s weird though because the reverse doesn't look affected.... It's also thinner on the side with the missing edge, but I couldn't get a good picture of it. Is it worth anything? Also, could it be a fake? The tone of the penny looks more like bronze than copper-plated zinc. (Although you can't tell in the picture) I can't weigh it because I do not have a scale, but I figure the weight would be different if it is an error anyway. Help is gladly appreciated! Thanks
Coin is real. No mint mark on a Lincoln cent means it came from the Philadelphia mint. They did not put a P on them. As far as the edge, some ppl call it a "partial collar". not really worth anything over face value. This happens when the top die is misaligned slightly when the coin is struck. These are actually very common in pocket change.
+1 Misaligned dies need at least a 5% offset to start having value over face. Generally the greater the offset, the higher the premium, unless the date is completely missing. Those still command an error premium, but not so much when you cannot tell the year.
whats the difference. im not tryin to be smart. i sincerely do not know. to be more precise, i understand the MAD. but apparently not the partial collar.
The error types partial collar, Mis-aligned dies, off-center, broadstruck, etc are all rather well defined. I would refer you to CONECA, varietyvista.com and a book called The Error Coin Encyclopedia by Margolis. There are several other good books but these are my recommendations right now. The partial collar error occurs when the planchet is only partially inside the collar die during the strike. The resulting edge of the coin does not have a uniform diameter. [The OP's coin has a uniform diameter & was struck in the collar die]. The Mis Aligned Die (MAD) error occurs when the obverse die is not perfectly in line with the reverse die. In this case you often see one side perfectly centerred & the other side off-center. Sometimes the obverse & reverse are just shifted in different directions. However, the coins that are called MAD are typically contained by the collar so they are not found way off center. The MAD error should not be confused with coins that are struck off center or broadstruck. Basically if any design is off the plancet then the coin is said to be off center. If it is off center but no design is off the planchet, then it is a broadstrike. In both the broadstrike & the off center, the collar die is completely out of the picture (the planchet is not contained in the collar).
