Here's a coin I'm thinking about adding to my collection if it checks out as a good one. you guys and gals can check it out and let me know what you think. I saw this same coin a few years back or one similar to it and passed it up because I thought it was just scratches. after looking at these photos I'm thinking it may be a really good one , I won't know until I have it in hand to look at. here's what I'm thinking may be possible . I noticed that the raised line under LIBERTY does not scratch the letters and appears to come out a little in front of Lincoln's chin. this die scratch or gouge looks wider and different than the rest of them. I'm thinking maybe the mint employees decided to retire this die because of this big die gouge or maybe it was retired because this was the last year for the wheat back cent.then they may have scratched up the die with a engraving tool so they could know to not use it again . then it looks as if someone may have accidentally put it back in use anyway. this is just my opinion..... you can use your camera's software to make the images better if you want to. I blew them up really big and the die scratches or gouges still looked ok to me .
From the pictures, I would have to agree..."non-accidental die scratches". If I were an error collector, I would buy it! :thumb:
Rascal...here's an error coin you might find interesting... http://www.ebay.com/itm/MINT-ERROR-...87?pt=Coins_US_Individual&hash=item3a6e4ae097
thanks yakpoo , I like that type error but this one don't look right for some reason. maybe it is just the images but the coin looks to have been cut down. this is just my opinion and I'm not sure. Did you see the dime stamped with the Franklin dies that sold on Ebay a while back ? Mr. Weinberg ended up with it. That one was a real beauty.
No, I missed that one. The Franklin in a Quarter planchet appears a bit "out-of-round", but I have no idea how the metal would spread in a strike condition like that. Like I said...I'm not an error collector. I would have to learn a whole lot more than I do to even attempt it.
Hmmm - have to admit, never before have I seen a coin like that. The only possible explanation I can come up with is that it was a "midnight minting" escapade.
Looks like something splattered across it and it just became part of the coin after sitting for so many years perhaps. Doesn't look real to me or at least a mint error, I bet I could get the same looking results by using some type of epoxy on a coin, let it sit for years, dig it back out. Not sure on this one. I'm skeptical though until a great deal of evidence is provided on most anything.
I suppose that's possible. They sure look like die scratches, though. The only thing that bothers me is that the scratches are very uniform. I would expect the scratches to be deeper on the fields and lighter as they drop into the devices, then deep again...but what do I know?
I see the same thing, that brought my skepticism to my conclusion thus far. All the scratches seem to be about the same depth across the whole coin and yeah, too uniform to me as well. Plus the two primary ones that are vertical compare to all the remaining horizontal scratches, that just doesn't make cents!
I'd buy it.... for how much I'd have to think about it. But because there's a gouge on the reverse as well, it leads me to accept Doug's guess as being a bit of mischef at the mint when someone wasn't looking. Or maybe someone put in a cancelled die without realizing it. (Did they cancel dies like this?) Regardless, I wouldn't mind having it in my collection.