1983 Lincoln Cent on Defective Bronze Planchet – 2.87g (PCGS)

I recently had this 1983 Lincoln cent evaluated by PCGS and it was attributed as struck on a defective bronze planchet weighing 2.87 grams.

Originally I submitted the coin to NGC where it was encapsulated simply as AU Details (scratched), without the mint error being identified. Because the weight and surfaces seemed unusual to me, I later submitted it to PCGS where the bronze planchet was confirmed.

The reverse also shows a very pronounced granular surface consistent with porosity in the planchet, which partially obscures the FG designer initials.

I would be very interested to hear thoughts from error collectors.

The coin will be appearing in an upcoming GreatCollections auction.

 

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Neat error how did you find it?

 

We recently had a thread about another post-1982 cent that was too heavy to be a standard copper-coated zinc planchet, but too light to be a standard bronze planchet.

The TPG said that coin (1987, I think?) was bronze, but I speculated that it was zinc with a thicker-than-spec copper layer - copper is good at blocking X-rays, and I wondered if the TPG naively just accepted what an XRF scan reported.

I wonder the same about this one. I'd hate to cut the coin in half to find out, but I'd be more than half tempted to crack the slab and get a specific-gravity measurement...

 

Wow, I like it

 

Nice