I agree about the smashed penny. The incuse lettering, and with such sharpness, suggest a metal imprint rather than struck through grease.The fact that the highest point of the coin (even though modern penny are quite flat) is affected is another sign. Are all the pennies in the roll affected in the same way, exactly?
yes. i thought the same, about the smashed penny, when i found the first one. but then i found several more. all the same.
Hmm, peculiar. I suppose they could all have been smashed the same exact way. The only other possibility (which I find unlikely) is a dropped letter, which is when dirt, grease, or other debris get trapped in the die lettering and later falls out creating a form of struck through error. While this error may hold a minor premium, I doubt this coin is one of these. First off, the obverse die is usually striking down to the anvil/reverse die, and I don't see how the fallen dirt could fall up to the other die. Even though the mint has changed its minting process in the last decade or so, I think this is a valid point. Then there's the fact that usually the entire letter forms, whereas here only the highest points of the obverse are affected, as opposed to the more incuse area near Lincoln's eye. Then there's the general look, which doesn't look like a strike-through to me, and the fact that this is repeated on multiple coins, which I don't believe occurs with most strike-throughs. Just my cent or two.
whatever you do please don't put these on Ebay until you find out for sure what they really are. would you actually sell some poor old soul a coin that you don't even know what it is? I'm almost 100% sure these are the worthless squeeze job coins but I just now found this thread and will take a better look and may reply back a little later.
OP, you state that you have a "handful" of these with the same markings but you have pictured only one. Please post a pic of all of them so we can see if they are truly all the same.
Sometimes it is hard to tell for sure what is wrong with a coin from just looking at photos. This one is easy to identify as a smash or squeeze job from the damage caused by the other coin, look at the top of the coin and the outline of the other coin's rim is easily visible above the word God and digs down and across the rim just to the right of this. this part almost got cropped out of the photo but still part of it is visible. I believe it definately is a hammer or squeeze job. I did a test and lined two coins up one on top of the other and making sure Lincoln's profile was lined up perfectly and this is where the C came out at . I destroyed the coins afterwards to keep them out of circulation.
you guys were right. it was a smash or "squeeze" job. i had a chance to look at them a bit closer over the past few days. thanks for the help. bummer. but on the up side i went to the bank today and bought $30 worth of halves. they were all from 1965 to 1969!