1851 Large Cent Fake

I bought a bag of large cents, and this guy stuck out like a sore thumb. Beside the obvious lack of detail, It weighs 3.5 grams, and is paper thin. My question to the forum is, Why counterfeit a cent like this? Is it a new fake or an old one?

 

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If it was struck at the mint on a very under weight planchet it shouldn't have much detail.

 

do you think that is the case?

 

Looks like my acid dipped lincoln cents... where someone let them disolve for a while and then passed them off as error coins.

 

Someone put it in acid for a science experiment or to fake an error

It is a real coin though

 

Acid can actually do that. It would eat away the raised surface at the same rate as the fields.

 

That would be my guess also.

 

Looks like the diameter shrunk as well... same as my acid lincolns.

 

They belong together.

 

Agreed on acid dip; that was my inclination.

 

I was thinking that it was struck on a planchet intended for a private token. It's not unusual for them to be struck on thin planchets when they just have letters on them. Or the planchet was punched from strip that was just rolled to the wrong thickness.

But I think the acid theory sounds better.