OK I have never seen this before. Maybe someone can explain how this error could have occurred? The O in One Cent on the reverse is squared off on the bottom. At first I thought it must be after mint damage but upon closer evaluation it does not look like damage.
It's not an error. It is damage. Something contacted the coin and displaced the metal slightly upward. Errors are anomalies that occur either prior to or during the striking of the coin. When looking at your coins and you see something unusual, you need to ask yourself "is this something that could have happened at the mint?" There is really no way a "squared O" could have occurred as a result of a striking failure.
If it occurred after the strike there would be a smear or other indication that the coin was damaged after striking there also would be a remnant of the rounded bottom.
That isn't always the case. There are many coins I have seen that don't have any remnants of metal, but are obviously post-mint damage.
Here are some of my "greates hits" of post mint damage. In no case are both edges of a letter shifted. If the O was pushed up from the bottom as would be the case with this the inside bottom of the O would be thinner. In this case the whole letter is the same thickness on all sides. I'm not buying it... lol
If you don't think it's PMD, then explain how it is a mint-made error. Here is an example of PMD that does not show "left over metal" from where the B originally was.
It's absolutely psd, and it's not uncommon at all for even a slight amount of circulation to cover up the fingerprints of psd.
non cents is telling you the truth , your coin is just a damaged coin. it is damaged all over , look at the bottom of the rest of the letters in ONE plus the tops of these letters. it would be hard to say for sure what pushed these letters out of shape , my guess would be a coin roller machine since all the letters at the bottom of the word ONE shows some damage.
non cents I have seen junk like this sell on Ebay and I believe the sellers think they actually have a valuable error. there is one coin that has sold on Ebay numerous times that has a ( 1 ) in the date pushed over sideways . I bet a lot of CT members have seen this one.
The fingers of rolling machines are notorious for leaving this sort of damage. They often do it when the coin is uncirculated, and it takes very little circulation to cover up the traces.
Now that's the right attitude . Sooner or later something good will come your way and the more you learn the better chance you will recognise what you find.
Tom, when I was starting out many decades ago, I had a hard time with some of the mint mark alterations people could do on coins, so I ground the points on fine dental picks ( old ones from my dentist) to resemble very small wood working chisels, planes, scribners, etc. and practiced pushing coin letters, mint marks, details, etc. Just wanted to see how it worked, and it wasn't tough to do, just would take a lot of practice to be more perfect. I think of that experiment when I think of altered ( purposely or by damage). Use a pre 1982 cent to practice on
