1943 Mercury Dime ....PMD

Is there any chance this damaged took place at the mint?

 

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There's nothing during the minting process that could cause that. It's post-strike damage.

 

Not so fast..

I am on the fence with PMD.

Whatever was struck into it, bulged out the other side, without bending the coin itself. If the coin was mounted in a vice, it would bend before it could to that.

The edges of the coin appear to have no damage. This means that it was not sandwiched, but rather laid flat, and whatever struck it was smaller than the coin itself.

This is something that would take a tremendous amount of pressure. If you simply took a chisel and a hammer and gave it a good whack, it would dent the coin, surely, but it would not be enough pressure to come out the back like that.

Even if you could, it would just blow out the back, it would not conform to the shape of the opposite side. What I mean is, the back would be dented outward in a large area, much larger than the dent on the other side.

Imagine taking a screw driver and whacking it into tin can, you would leave a mark, but you would also leave a dent.

So whatever did this damage, used tremendous (in excess of 10,000 pounds) pressure, in a very quick motion.

Hmm...what has high pressure and strikes quickly? I know, a coin die.

If something got caught between the coin and the die, it could possibly strike with enough force to dent it into the die on the other side.

I will leave the experts to this one, but I'm saying it's possible...

 

It's damage. As Jody said, nothing at the mint would cause the bulging effect seen directly behind the damage dealt on the obverse.

 

Just damage.

 

Yep. And damage on a mercury dime means it's worth---you guessed it, bullion value.

 

Thanks for all your thoughts. I have never seen a coin damaged this way. Looks like two intentional strikes in the non-image area. Thought someone might have seen something similar in the past. I'm with Detecto, whatever struck this coin, struck it with great force without causing any other structural damage.
I'll hold on to it anyway.

 

Damage. In Detecto's hypothesis he didn't consider that the reverse die would be striking that side and wouldn't allow for raised dents to occur on the reverse. Silversmiths using punches against a leather covered hard surface can make such deep dents with a normal jeweler's hammer. Look at some of the American Indian siver belt buckles and bracelet designs.

 

PMD. The coin has been hit twice with a punch of some sort.. Perhaps somebody was trying to put their i-i initials in it?