That looks pretty cool Bill! I would say that the die was polished to much, but you would think that other parts of the date would be missing too. Interesting......
I've seen alot of 1943's with missing 4's or very weak 4's, this one looks a little different. More than likely it was struck thru grease with something pretty hard in with the mix. Probably worth a couple bucks...
Very, very common, I have seen hundreds like this from all three mints. Very, very common, I have seen hundreds like this from all three mints. The die had some kind of grease or other dirt, metal fillings in it.
For some strange, and as yet, unexplained reason, the cents for 1943, all three mints, had these 'missing digits'. More common than in other years. Not valuable, except on eBay.
you wouldn't happen to know anything about rpm's would you? i just created a post about a 1983D Lincoln rpm i found last night. i can't find any website that shows the value of it. (probably doesn't have one.. my luck!) lol.. anyway, i think your find is really cool. i found a 1960 with a completely missing "b" in liberty but i was told it has no value. i'll just keep looking until i find the "ultimate valuable find"! Penny
"is this a droped number?" No a dropped number/letter occurs when bits of metal and grease fill a number or letter in the die, and then it falls out of the die onto a planchet. Subsequently, when the planchet is struck, the material is driven into the surface of the coin resulting in an incuse letter/number where none was intended.
I don't see any sign of a dropped letter. I do see a die chip in the '8'. Where do you see the dropped letter?
Who's that? This was during wartime and the mint was working long hours, so the die's did not always get cleaned as often as today. Mintage alone on the 1943-p was 684,628,670 and d-mint 217,600,000 thats a lot of coins.
Here is my example of a dropped letter coin. But this one was controversial. Some thought it was a fake, some did not. I still have to send this in.
I'm sorry, but it looks like post mint damage to me. It appears somebody filed it off. It looks like there is a trace of that, leading down to the bottom of the coin at the very left of the three. Sorry...