Took a chance on a roll with a 1917 and a 1926 showing on the ends. Within this roll I cam across this 1941 penny. Cant tel if this is an error or a damaged 1 in the 41 part of the date. You can see some wear on the "4" but the "1" isnt consistant with the wear showing on the "4". It almost looks like the top part of the "1" is twisted to the right . If this is an obvious answer, please forgive my ignorance, Im still VERY new to collecting so please be patient with me hahaha Ill try and post a better pic later
It is damage. There is no occurrence during the minting process that could result in the date looking like that.
With more experience under your belt you'll get to recognize post mint damage when you see it. Stuff like what is on your coin is minor, but there are cases where almost an entire numeral or letter gets shoved to one side or the other. Damage like that can be caused by many things but it is often caused by automated counting or rolling machines. And sometimes it is even done intentionally by an individual.
Thanks everyone for the help and advice. Great to find a site where people are willing to help out a newbie. GDJMSP, just the other day I had that situation where it was more then clear that I had found something (twice... from the same box of pennies), needless to say I had huge doubts but I more then double checked these coins over the following day or 2. I found 2, 1983 Double Die in the text of "ONE CENT".
I'm not going to tell you that it's impossible, but it is more than extremely unlikely that you found even 1 1983 DDR, let alone 2. What you probably found are 2 coins with mechanical doubling, which is not the same thing. Post pics and we'll tell you.
I have had this 1941-S cent for a long time. It has a slanted '1' which I always assumed to be damage. United States cent 1941-S with slanted '1'
