Weird looking penny, I think a lot of grease had a part in its making

Hello Everyone,

I recently stumbled upon this penny. It's a 1968 D that has some very unusual markings. Even the pillars on the reverse side monument are slanted. There are what looks like high and low spots where the grease squeezed under tremendous pressure escaped between the planchet and die. The date even appears to be doubled, which seems to be a pretty common thing on the '68's.

I saw a similar penny on one of Coin Talk's member's avatar, but could not find him again. I would like to ask him what year his penny is. Can anyone help me on this?

I had an idea just now. I'm still new and getting to know how a forum works, so if this is a good/bad idea, please let me know your thoughts. I'd made a post once called, "What causes these types of pennies?", and was wondering if instead of posting a new post every time I stumble upon a penny that has features I'd like some professional opinions on, I just add it onto that post. Maybe start a new one called, "What causes this...?", and then fill in the rest with the new addition (Example, "1992 penny with what looks like shaved features/letters". Now, please before someone replies with another snide remark such as, "Do you own any power equipment?", I'd rather not receive negative remarks, but positive informational ones, and of course I will try to help out others like me who are still trying to learn more.

Thank you in advance everyone

 

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Hello,

You have posted this coin correctly in the error coin forum. It is always best when your title describes what is in the thread. Folks will see the title & then decide if they should look into the thread.

Your coin looks like it has experienced some environmental damage (after it left the mint).

 

I would say that what you have is an acid-dipped cent. It has been damaged outside the mint and is not an error.
Keep up the hunt!

 

Hello Collect89,

Thank you for letting me know I posted in the correct forum. I was thinking of posting it in the 'Coin Roll Hunting' forum as I did find it in a roll, but due to the damage opted to post it in the error forum.

Regarding this coin though, I don't think environmental damage is the cause as there is no obvious oxidation of the coin's metal. I do have coins that have environmental damage, and under magnified observation doesn't look at all the same. I'd also think environmental damage would not cause the pillars to be slanted as such. Grease flow seems to fit as the deformation of the words seem to get worse toward the bottom of the reverse side as the grease flowed in that direction. The wavy rivulets on the obverse side on Lincoln's image could have been caused by a rapid vibration which shifted the coin's orientation, and also affected the monument too because the die metal didn't shift to cause that slant. The damage to the rim may possibly have been caused when the rapid flowing grease caused the rim to be forced out and up, causing it to become thinner the higher it flowed. It is hard to say whether the rim's folding over was at the mint or post release.

Thank you for your post though, I like this sharing of ideas a lot. Have a great coin hunting day!

 

Hello non_cents,

I had thought of acid too, but I experimented dipping pure copper pennies in acid and it did not give the same results. Acid also cannot slant the pillars of the monument. If the coin was squeezed diagonally, it may slant the pillars a bit, but I do not think to the degree this coin exhibits. What do you think of my theory?

Thank you again non_cents, your advice and knowledge is very highly respected by me.

 

I just thought of something else. If this were an acid dipped coin, wouldn't the acid oxidize the metal, lowering and thinning out the letters? The date, Liberty, and United States of America all seem to be about the standard height and if anything, some are thicker than normal.

 

the damage to the rim points to having been in a commercial clothes dryer. I suspect the distortion of the surfaces is from the same.

 

Road rash, rotating equipment, caustic & acidic solutions cause coins to look quite strange. :rollling: Here are a few threads at CT which you might find interesting:

http://www.cointalk.com/t52219/

http://www.cointalk.com/t191187/

http://www.cointalk.com/t197533/

http://www.cointalk.com/t32829/

http://www.cointalk.com/t187111/

You may want to search CT for the word “acid”.


P.S.
BTW, If you assume the coin was struck in the collar & it measures anything outside of normal tolerances for a cent, then it is PMD. You might measure the cent diameter at several different locations.

Stay thirsty my friend.

 

Sorry, I sort-of double posted the post script.

 

Acid does not oxidize metal, acid dissolves metals.

 

Yes, my mistake, acid does dissolve metals. Just substitute 'oxidize' with 'dissolve' in my previous posting.

 

Damaged. Not a mint error. Probably acid.

 

Because of the slanted plllars of the building it looks like this coin has been in a house fire or maybe someone used a torch on it. In my opinion the coin has been in a near liquid state from a heat source and the metal almost started flowing.This would also cause the pitted look.

 

Was it my avatar that you were looking for? Mine is a 1946 LWC. It was caused by,,,,,,,,,, drum roll............. an acidic solution to get it to an almost liquid state. ( at least thats what I was told by "The Experts" and since many of them are friends of mine I take them for their word.

I feel that you have a similar coin.

 

ziggy I know it would be impossible for anyone to prove what damaged this coin because apparently none of us saw it happen. After going back and reading all the posts I believe your opinion of what happened is about as close as anyone can get. As you mentioned the coins edge does show what appears to be clothes dryer damage so maybe the coin ended up near the heat source for the dryer and almost got melted. Either way it looks like everyone agrees that it is PMD

 

Since bronze melts at 1600 some degrees farenheit,if you would have that kind of temperature in a clothes dryer you would have a lot more problems than a warped cent.:smile

 

I see you don't know much about clothes dryers. sometimes the clothes in them get's so hot the clothes do get on fire.this happened to us once and our basement was full of smoke,this is what can happen when the thermostat goes bad. The heating elements for electrical dryers becomes extremely hot and this element is back away from the clothes and the heat is pumped into the dryer by a fan.

 

Hellorascal,

I can imagine that the heating elements of a electric clothes dryer gets very hot, but you must remember that clothes will burn at a much lower temperature than brass. Just so everyone knows, a 'copper' penny that was minted until 1982 (not the mostly zinc ones) is brass, not bronze. Brass is an alloy of copper and zinc, while bronze is an alloy of copper and tin.

I am, at the moment after some much needed rest yesterday; preparing a post to explain many things. Some which may go against what is being written in regards to coins that are acid dipped, or tumbled in a clothes dryer. Please bear in mind that I am only doing this in the hopes of propagating truths and dispelling false beliefs, and like many who bring truths to those who are set in mind on their beliefs, I expect to receive negativity, resent, and disbelief. But I am able to deal with these things for it is worth the effort. Bear in mind that at one point, people believed our world was flat, and that the sun revolved around our earth, some even to the point of fighting and dying for those beliefs. But truth eventually won out and the world is better for it.

Thank you all for your patience.

 

Actually, I was correct the first time. This article is from Angelo State University on the oxidation of copper and nitric acid:

http://www.angelo.edu/faculty/kboudrea/demos/copper_HNO3/Cu_HNO3.htm

 

Any way you look at it, it is PMD. Sorry, your coin is damaged.