Make Lincoln cents make sense

Discussion in 'US Coins Forum' started by No_Ragrets, Aug 12, 2025 at 6:03 PM.

  1. No_Ragrets

    No_Ragrets Self-proclaimed Semi-Amateur Numismatist Supporter

    So I decided to peruse through my penny books today and couldn't quite figure out why this 1940 penny reverse looks the way that it does. I'm mostly familiar with the "woody" Lincoln's and why they show the wood grain look but this one just looks... different. The obverse doesn't appear to have the same effect as the reverse, so I'm kinda stumped. Anyone care to elaborate or explain what would cause this? It looks more like tiger stripes in person than it does in the pictures. Thanks!

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  3. paddyman98

    paddyman98 I'm a professional expert in specializing! Supporter

    dwhiz, ddddd, Neal and 3 others like this.
  4. No_Ragrets

    No_Ragrets Self-proclaimed Semi-Amateur Numismatist Supporter

    Thank you! But where is the design transfer coming through? The reverse doesn't seem to show anything related to the obverse.
     
  5. paddyman98

    paddyman98 I'm a professional expert in specializing! Supporter

    It's the upside down ghostly image of Lincoln. It's an overused die issue ;)
     
  6. physics-fan3.14

    physics-fan3.14 You got any more of them.... prooflikes?

    No, I don't think that is what's going on here. With PID Transfer, you get a ghostly image of the other side - you'll see Lincoln showing up in the middle of the wheat stalks. In the OP's case, they show wide parallel stripes, not an outline of Abe.

    I believe what you show is a rolling issue - when the planchet was rolled, there were some errors in the rolling process. Unfortunately, error-ref doesn't have images or an article linked.
     
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  7. -jeffB

    -jeffB Greshams LEO Supporter

    I figured it just spent some time sitting on something corrugated. Might even have picked up toning from something on/in the album paper...?
     
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  8. alurid

    alurid Well-Known Member

    I agree with -jeffB, the toneing lines were most likely caused by storage and not from Inproper alloy mix as in a "woody".
     
  9. Collecting Nut

    Collecting Nut Borderline Hoarder

    As soon as I saw the first photo it’s clear that’s Lincoln standing on his head. The other photos don’t show it as much due to light angles picked up from the camera. The last photo is the hardest to see Lincoln. It’s a ghosting issue.
     
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