Looks like the planchet was cracked before striking. It’s now worn down in that area but still a nice looking coin.
Treashunt correctly answered the OP's question. It's a die crack. Now for educational purposes... "Collecting Nut, posted: "Looks like the planchet was cracked before striking. It’s now worn down in that area but still a nice looking coin." Think about what you posted and explain what you see on the coin that rules out a cracked planchet. After a while, should you chose not to comment, I'm sure someone else will. PS I don't understand how two members can "like" a correct answer and one that is incorrect in the same thread. Perhaps these are "participation likes."
thank you folks. Die crack it is then! If you don't know, you ASK, well I didn't know to be honest! Now I do.
Collecting Nut, posted: "It doesn’t look raised to me. It looks indented." Good eye! You are half way to the answer. Do both sides of the crooked line look indented?
This is one that could be jumped on prematurely. Close look shows the crack under the 8 and following up through the bust.
would anyone here think it's worth slabbing? or the PCGS would just give it a generic slab description?
Collecting Nut, posted: "It doesn’t look raised to me. It looks indented." Good eye! You are half way to the answer. Do both sides of the crooked line look indented? Collecting Nut, answered: "To me, yes." They are not. The left side looks indented because the right side is slightly higher. This is a late stage of the die. An advanced Large cent collector would probably like to have it so don't waste money having it slabbed. @Collecting Nut Make sure you can see the difference now. If not, I'll post some more.
It’s just hard for me to see, especially in a photo. All my life I’ve had a problem with depth perception. At times, as a teenager, it almost kept me from getting my drivers license. Thanks for explaining.
This obverse die was also used later outside to mint, after alteration, to make the 1804 restrike cents using an 1818 rev die.