1974 penny

Completely sure.

 

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So I take back what I originally said about there being a possible clash on the reverse. Now that I am looking at the pictures on my computer and not my "smart" phone I can clearly see that it is indeed a vice job as everyone else has already stated. Sorry bud.

 

When I was a kid I did a lot of that sort of thing, coins on railroad tracks, squeezing coins in vices, melting them, shooting with a .22. I wasn't trying to make fake errors, I was just having fun! I would just grab a coin from change, didn't matter what year it was. I was 14 in 1974, so who knows, I may have done this coin! I am sure there were thousands of others doing the same thing.

 

If it helps you to feel any better, I also have a vise cent much like this one. I found it as a kid and always thought it was a major error. I always told my friends I had a cent with "4 tails!" In my teens I took it to a local shop ready to "settle for $100K". I was very disappointed and in disbelief but that's reality. I keep the coin to this day as a fun memento.

It isn't "faked". Nobody tried to deceive anybody unless they sold it to you for money. If you simply found it, somebody else simply did that out of boredom then got rid of it.

By the way, I laughed out loud at your suggestion that it was just some drunk at the mint. Yea the US Treasury employs drunks to make coins without supervision.