1854 Large One Cent - Die Cracks?...

Hi - here is my 1854 Large One Cent. You'll notice to the right of the neck on the obverse, there is what looks like a "W." At first, it looked like someone scratched in the letter "W." However, in real life, each part of the "W" looks like a raised ridge of metal, that has cracked along the top or side of each part of the "W" and has filled in with dirt.

Is this a die crack? If so does it add or subtract from the value? The 2026 Red Book doesn't mention anything about varieties for this coin.

Thanks!

 

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It does looked raised but are you sure is a W? If you turn the coin 180* it could be an M . lol. At any rate I would consider it damage.

 

Definitely not a die crack, Grafiti.

 

When a coin is scratched, metal is moved to one or both sides of the scratch. After a bit of wear you get what we are seeing on the coin.

 

post mint damage unfortunately

 

Sigma?

 

Thanks Larry.... I had been puzzling over this one myself.

 

@Collecting Nut @Pickin and Grinin @ldhair @jerryc39 @derkerlegand @Randy Abercrombie ...Hi, thank you for the quick and insightful responses. I didn't know exactly what to call it - "W", "M", Sigma etc. but I learned something. It just seemed too deliberate somehow, but I didn't know when a coin is scratched, metal moves to one or both sides. So, that absolutely makes sense. I seem to have more than my fair share of bent, corroded, scratched, etc. coins. Damaging coins seems to have been the fun thing to do 150+ years ago. Oh well.