Hi Folks, I have this 1917-S Lincoln that I purchased as struck out of collar. I took a close look at it doing the coin flip thingy and it just didn't look right. I placed the coin in one of my slab holder inserts and squared it up to where on obverse the legend and date are level as poosible to the eye..i took scan of obverse and then turned over the insert with coin in place and squared against scanner bed. Reverse looks rotated to left to me what do yall think? Thanks
Take a photo of the coin. Not a scanner. View the 11-12 o'clock position. It appear's to be altered. If you feel that the coin is real, then it is a good find. The picture you posted doesn't do it justice. Rhubarb
post mint damage.....it was struck in a collar, obvious by the intact rims around what is left of the coin EDIT: might have been a " railroad track " penny like I used to do as a kid on the railyards in Detroit. We had many that looked sorta like that.
I placed coin in insert to hold it in position so that when I fliped the coin coin would stay in place so as to scan. The only ateration I have done is change the scanners light from normal to light because the coins scan came out darker than the coin is itself the pictures of coin on carpet is more accurate of color I will try to take camera pics. I too when I was a kid use to take coins and put on RR tracks..wish I had the original coins now
OK gang - got a question for ya. If the coin was squashed post mint - and I'm not saying it was or wasn't - how did the metal get down here around the rim (see arrow).
Yeah, I wuz lookin at that too, Doug. But I don't see how it could be from strike. The "7" of 1917 is raised - well, part of it is. Even though the, um, planchet, is noticeably thinner there. And none of the design elements seem to be making a "run for the border." I've been tricked by that before with pics ( Cf.: http://www.cointalk.org/showthread.php?t=31750 ) I also noticed that the design rim between GOD and WE is out of round which suggests post strike. And the pic you reposted seems to show a hint of the design rim in the smushed area but higher than where is should be. If it was strike the rim would be circular ( the dies are circular). If it was post strike the smushing would displace the metal at expansion. I have to go with the diagnostics I see. I agree with the previous posts: Post Strike.
Fair enough Mike, so how do you explain the metal below the rim like that ? I can't see how that could be done post mint either.
The very best way to learn about how error coins are made is to learn as much as you can about the minting process. Once you get that figured out, it's pretty easy to determine if a coin is a mint error or not. You may not be able to figure out how it was damaged outside of the mint but you will know if it was possible to be done during the minting process. If it couldn't happen during the minting process, it's obviously post mint damage.
The crushed surface has a gently crescentic internal border, possibly indicating that the crushing surfaces were curved. Perhaps a thin continuation of the crescentic crushing surface extended onto the obverse rim. But as Jason says, it's not necessary to establish exactly how and what created the damage. It's sufficient simply to determine that a particular appearance is incompatible with the minting process.
For those of us who are simple minded: Definitions of Crescentic on the Web: Curved shaped with concave and/or convex edge(s). I hope that clears things up.
