One of my cashiers at work knows Im into odd or old coins, and offered me this penny tonight.. The lip around the edge edge is WAY too high on both sides, and the face and obverse seem pressed far too deep in the coin. Havent seen anything like this yet, and Ive been collecting for a couple of years now.. any help? The picture on the right is a regular penny on the left sitting next to the odd penny on the right.. the thickness difference is quite noticable.
It has probably either been spooned or was stuck in a clothes dryer for a period of time. Have the compared the diameter to another cent?
Spooned? Ive not heard of that... i just stacked it on top of another penny and the diameter is identical. Thanks for the response!
Ok this is about the third one of these I've seen asked about since I've been here. I believe they are spooned (struck on the edge with a spoon or small hammer until the edge mushrooms and rolls over). My question is, who is out there spooning coins and putting them back into circulation?
I just looked up spooning and I dont think this is a spooned coin. The edges are VERY raised, enough so that the diameter would be significantly smaller than that of a regular penny. The diameters are identical. Further, it seems spooning is done to make a ring out of a silver quarter.. why would anyone spoon a penny?
It may not have been intentional. A coin that gets accidentally stuck in one of the fins of a commercial dryer for a period of time will emerge "spooned".
but wouldnt the diameter of this penny be smaller than that of a regular penny were this the case? Edit: I just took a closer look at the penny, and the diameter IS smaller.. but barely noticeably so. However, I must concede that if this board is getting the same question posted three times a week by noobies such as myself, the odds of me having a genuine mint mistake that sure looks an awful lot like a spooned or dryer-ed coin is a slim to none. Anyway, thank yall for your time! The hunt continues...
You're welcome, May. We have this discussion regularly. Use the search feature and search the term "spooned". You should find a number of threads that go into much more detail than this one.