Hi all, I recently purchased this 1903 IHC from a coin dealer in the Chinatown district here in NYC. He called it a Cent struck with a Cracked Die which to me is obviously not. A Cracked Die or Shattered Die Strike would show raised lines on the surface of the Cent.. These are cracked and separated with incused spaces.. Help.. What's going on here? @Fred Weinberg maybe PMD?
I just found an old CT Thread with a similar issue https://www.cointalk.com/threads/any-ideas-on-this-indian-head-penny.266399/#post-2197348
Looks like the planchet had obverse to reverse lamination issues and fell apart, then it was glued back together.
Looks like it may have been frozen at one time. Could have happened if it was buried and found with a detector.
It could have been that the raw material bar that the blank was cut from had impurities or discontinuities at that location. Over time they became exposed to the environment and handling that brought them out.