i found this odd 198? Penny and was wondering if it is the result of an accident after minting ir is a mint error. There are what look like letters in the crunched section making me feel it was mistamped or something?
Sorry to say it's damaged. Everything you see as different on the cent occurred after it was in circulation. It's been 'crimped' by something, or otherwise pressed again the coin - damage.
There are a limited number of ways that an error can occur during production, but there are a gazillion ways that a coin can be damaged while in circulation. It is best if you try to learn as much as you can about the minting process so that you can save yourself a lot of time looking at PMD. Chris