Okay, I found this one in a roll of coins DECADES ago, I don't remember if it was in a roll of dimes or cents. Wasn't sure what I was looking at, my research back then was inconclusive. I put it away, still confused as heck about it. Here is MY theory on what it is. I am open to your thoughts as well - actually, more than open. I got no idea what this one could be. Given the year, I surmise that a sheet of copper center clad material (before it was bonded to the outer nickel cladding) made it's way to a dime planchette stamping machine. Dime sized planchettes were stamped out of this thin center core copper sheet. Later, a mint employee saw these small copper rounds and dumped them into the Lincoln cent bin where this little 1964 was stamped out, a weak stamp as it is much thinner than a normal cent. It's diameter is exactly the same as a modern Roosevelt. I am thinking this was a late 1964 cent produced while they were preparing the clad sheets for next years non-silver coinage. Your thoughts? Saving the best for last, or some other logical explanation for this one? Oh yeah, if it is what I think it MIGHT be, what's an approximate worth? Z
Ok. That Cent is DEFDAM - Definitely Damaged It was altered post mint. They did this back then to use Cents instead of Dimes to make payphone calls. No premium for it.
Hey Paddyman, Any interest in seeing a Seated Liberty Half Dime with a rotated reverse? I have one that is about 160 degrees rotated from normal. Kind of hard to show in pictures, I would need to do a video of me flipping it to prove it. Maybe the staples in the 2x2 would offer substantial documentation? I'll have to photograph it tonight. Z
Stick it in a piece of styrofoam and photograph it against a mirror to show both sides at once and then include a photo of the edge, where it may show some manipulation indications.
A bit of information, to make the clad strip the copper and clad layer before bonding are much thicker than the final coins. They are bonded today by high pressure rolling, and then are rolled out to the required thickness for the coin.(Back in 65 the ingots were bonded with explosive bonding. The three layers were packed in explosives and then detonated. The explosive force would then bond the ingots together.) Also all of this is done by outside firms so the "copper center clad material (before it was bonded to the outer nickel cladding)" was never in the mint.
This 1964 cent was immersed in acid (or some other corrosive solution) for a prolonged period. It is not an error.
Sorry, sorry....I was not "online" for the last 24 hours....Mike what I, and my friends used to make a cent the accepted size of a dime for the phone booth phones was simply sanding it with sandpaper. Most of the time you would have to hold it at an angle making sure to eliminate the rim....I will tell you one time I was out and about by myself and I had to make a phone call....Way back in the 60's there were phone booths all over the place and you had to insert change into the phone to make a call. Local calls were a dime...I went in my pocket, looked at my change, found a cent and pulled it out...It had not been filed down yet...But next to the phone booth was a concrete curb...So I sat down on the curb and started sanding my cent...I don't remember how long it took to sand it so the phone would accept it, or how many times I tried placing it into the phone to see if it was acceptable, but I did win! And the phone call was made...Costing me a penny! (That's what we called a cent back then) I told my friends what I did and they all thought I was kidding.I told them to go to the phone booth I used and check out the scratches I put into the concrete curb....
