This cent is a weird zincy color, about 20 1/2 mm (as opposed to the 19 mm for a normal cent). It's bent, almost cupped. The weirdest part is the edge. Along the edge it almost looks like a train wheel, with a groove up the center and a larger diameter surface along the faces. Almost like a smaller center was plated with two surfaces which are slightly larger. Is it a cent planchet dropped in a nickel die? But my color is weird too. Any ideas!!!
What is the weight? That would tell if it was struck on a nickel planchet. I would suspect environmental damage since I have not seen a similar error, but I am not an error expert per se.
Your coin was struck with Lincoln Cent dies. If it had been struck by nickel dies it would look like a nickel. Can you post a GOOD photo of the edge. It sounds like it could very well be an out-of-collar strike known as a railroad rim. If so, it would be very collectible.
remember that you cannot have a cent struck on a nickel planchet. Having a physically larger coin struck on a smaller planchet is possible but not the other way around, they just won't fit through the machinery. richard
If it is a "railroad rim" would it be this large? How about the color, it certainly looks zinc. There are some great details on this coin. I'm almost positive it is not post mint damage. And what is a Texas cent?
I was able to get some better pictures of this coin, including the edge. Anybody got better ideas now? Notice how much larger this thing is than a regular cent.
A "Texas" cent, quarter, whatever, is created by putting the coin between two pieces of stiff leather and beating it with a sledgehammer. The leather conforms to the surface of the coins and distributes the impact evenly over the entire surface of the coin causing it to expand outward evenly. The end result is a larger coin with all the details larger but still maintaining the original proportions. They are called "Texas" coins because "Everything is bigger in Texas." For some reason though every post 1982 Texas cent I have seen is also missing the copper plating. I don't know if something about the process removes the plating or if people are deliberately removing it before of after because the stretching process would probably result in splits in the plating. I think if I was doing it I would leave the plating nad the once I had made it larger give it a quick thin electroplating to hide the splits.
