I found a 2007 Lincoln with what I believe to be a strike-through. It is crescent shaped and goes through the CE of cent at an equal depth without showing any scratch type roughness on the edges or any of the aluminum core. I reaches from rim to N. How does one ID a strike-through? I know with cloth you can see pattern, but with debris? Sorry for no pics. My wife dropped the Nikon... Thanks- Mike
Sometimes it's hard to tell a strikethrough from post mint damage since they both can have the same effect. In some cases it's easier than others, like if the strikethrough passes under devices or legends and continues on the other side like in this pic - - (sorry it's not a US coin but it's the only pic I have readily available). Anway, I think you can see what I mean. The line of the string is on top in some areas but under the devices in others. In your case however, since you say that you cannot see the core of the coin ( it's zinc, not aluminum by the way ) then I would say it is a strikethrough because if it were post mint damage then the zinc would be exposed.
Here is a cent that i believe to have a struck through debris on it. Hope it helps. Look under the T in UNTITED
Possible, but given the circulated condition of the coin I think it more likely to be post mint damage in this case.
Thanks for the info, but now I am really confused. How did the string go under the devices? Mine looks more like the string over the devices and is similar to the post by tommypski (though the coin is fresh out of a new roll). By the way- that is an amazing coin! How in the heck does a guy find a 1700's strike through?? This is such a cool site! Mike
When I bought the coin I could have cared less about the strike-through error - I bought it because I wanted the coin period. On older coins errors are very common. It's often hard to find coins without errors of some sort. Now as to how it happened, that's easy. Visulaize a coin die, the design is incuse in the die, a hole in other words. Now visulize a piece of string that got stuck on the die when a mint worker wiped the die off. String is flexible and soft, so when the die was used to strike the next coin, some parts of the string were depressed into the hole of the design, parts were stretched tight across the hole because now the string is trapped between the die and the planchet - it likely breaks at this point. So part of the string is now under the metal as it flowed to fill the die and part is on top of the metal. Get the idea ?
It makes sense. Thank you for taking the time to explain it to me. Even though we were talking about string, I had envisioned wire and I couldn't figure out where it went. I still think your coin is pretty special because of the strike-through. There is something about a string left on the die that connects that particular coin to the mint worker who made it. Similar to the 1/000 errors and such, it reminds me that these people were hard workers (and maybe hard drinkers) in circumstances that were probably back-breaking. Thanks again- Mike
