The wear on this 1849 Large Cent has bugged me. Any ideas if it’s PMD or something else. Most are very well struck.
I've seen them like this, though I couldn't tell you what caused that particular wear pattern. I wouldn't call it PMD, since wear does not equal damage. But yeah, it's wear, and not some strange strike or the like. Edit: wait... look at how high that date is. That thing's a teeny bit off-center! So... hmmm... Yep, it does appear there is something else going on with this one, despite my dismissing it at first glance. The whole reverse is slightly off center as well. I guess that could account for the odd strike, though you'll want someone better versed in error coins than I am to answer that.
The raised rim is not what I typically see with worn pieces. The really worn pieces have no rim left. Maybe the rim been messed with?
Is your coin not round? It looks to be a bit eggish to me. Looks like it may have been flattened somehow, but only on the inside of the rims. Quite odd.
Almost looks like a well circulated broadstrike. No vending machines or "CoinStars" to reject them back then. Just kept on doing its job . . . . . Z
I think that it has been crushed in some way. The design devices seem to have been flattened by something other than normal wear.
I like this theory. There’s definitely something like that going on, for both sides to be oh-so-slightly off center. Smashing or flattening the coin would not have moved the date out of position like that. And look at how far STATES OF is from the rim. I guess a broadstrike could account for both the slight off-centeredness and the funky raised rims, right? Then you’ve got lots of pocket wear over all that, to make things a little less obvious at a casual glance. Very intriguing piece.
