Error?..or damage

I found this cent and in one way it looks like it was split before striking...but in another way it looks damaged.
The photo doesn't do the best job but it is like that on both sides...it is like dircracks or lines all over the coin...I think they are raised....it also shows some pitts and also the zinc layer below the copper.

Any ideas?

Speedy

 

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It looks like it was harshly cleaned. My uncle gave me a roll of wheat pennies that looked just like that. He told me he cleaned them with some type of acid and a tooth brush.

 

It could be that the planchet was scratched?

 

i'm guessing that since the zinc is visible that it's post damage. If they were raised lines, you wouldn't see the zinc (since the zinc is underneath). it might be cleaned, but i don't know why someone would go through the trouble to clean that coin. my guess is that someone needed 1.05 go get something off the dollar menu at burger king and only had 1.04, but then found the penny in the parking lot by luck

 

i take the burger king thing back since the rest of the coin seems undamaged... but it still does look like fine scratches of sorts

 

I think if it was a cleaned the lines or such would be more en-dented in the metal...this is more raised...

Speedy

 

If this were a poll, my vote would definitely be post-strike damage.

 

Looks like roadkill.

 

The scratches going NE to SW look post mint damage, but zinc line seem like they might be due to a faulty planchet. Whatever it is, its a wild effect, makes Lincoln look like he ran through a spider web

Can you post a picture of the reverse too?

 

I can try but it might take awhile...

Speedy

 

Parking lot coin.

 

Hi,
I agree, this is post mint damage and the coin was simply scraped in some way.
Have Fun,
Bill

 

Just curious, if the coins was scraped in some fashion, as it certainly appears to be in the photos....then why would the zinc lines showing be raised up from the rest...and not incused. I know zinc corrodes in strange ways....but I'm still curious.

 

I'm still going to get that photo...I'm just slow

I'm wondering the same...if it is scraped or beatup...wouldn't the lines be -in-dented and not like a die crack?

Speedy

 

I can't get good clear photos....but here is one...the lines go in the same way as the other side...

Speedy

 

You say the ridges are raised??? That is really odd.

B

 

Yep--I had the coin for a few weeks before I posted because I just thought I would find out what caused it....but I never could.

Speedy

 

Hi,
I couldnt see the scrapes and such in the smaller scan. The coin was tampered with after it left the mint. Someone probably tried to remove the copper layer with steel wool or by using a wire wheel on a drill.
Have Fun,
Bill

 

If the coin was subject to abrasion, why would the zinc lines be raised up? I don't want to come across as argumentative here, I'm quite happy to agree that it was altered outside the mint, I just can't wrap my mind around how abraision could raise the metal in lines instead of cutting "valleys" into it.

Only thing I can think of is that the abrasion resulted in the copper layer being "cut" through in lines. Next. the exposed zinc corroded causing it to become elevated. And finally, subsequent wear polishing the exposed corroded zinc lines back into a silver color.

I know its darn near impossible to account for what happens to coins once they leave the mint, but this one has definitely grabbed ahold of my curiousity.

 

When something like steel wool or a wire brush scrapes a coin or any piece of metal, it does not remove all the metal. Some of it is displaced and just remains as a raised line on eiter side of the depression created by a bristle of the wire that scraped the coin.
Imagine scraping snow on the sidewalk with a snow shovel. Usually there are little raised piles of snow on either side of the shovel after you make a pass with it. That's the same idea on the surface of the coin.

Have Fun,
Bill