Hi Have a question in regards to a 1997 penny. The date, the word liberty and in god are barely readable. My question is was it caused at the mint or did someone tamper with it trying to make it a error coin. Thanks for any info.
The coin was likely tampered with. Lincoln is too strong, and most error coins have only one word/date touched, not three
Some of the coin looks PMD (post mint damage), like in front of Lincoln's face. The rest is something a grease filled die would cause. So it is an error.
I just got thru looking at your photo and I don't see any evidence of someone tampering with it. If someone had ground these letters off the copper layer would be gone and the zinc would be showing.what you have here is a coin that was struck with a clogged or what we call a filled in die.
I agree with rockdude. Struck thru grease, but the big scratch in front of his face makes it pretty much worthless. Still a keeper though.
Another agreement, struck thru grease and post mint damage. Too bad about the damage...it's a nice greaser!
