Hello This is my first post -- This cent weighs 3.1 grams. It has a very weak date of 1941 on one side and a reverse mirror image 1943 on the other side. The edge is thin at one point and wider at other points. The side with the 1943 also has a reverse lettering and wheat leaves. I do not know much about error coins -- any help is appreciated on what caused this and if it has any value. Is it worth a few dollars or a lot because of the 1943?!?
Something is definitely wrong with your coin. I don't understand it. Not sure. @JCro57 ? @Pete Apple ?
I'm not seeing what's complicated here: Put circulated 1941 cent face-down on a hard surface. Put 1943 steel cent on top of it. Pound with sledgehammer. Voila! Steel is harder than bronze, so it'll leave a sharp impression in the bottom coin. The bottom coin's face will be mashed flat. Maybe I'll find a couple of cull cents, one bronze, one steel, and try it myself... but I wasn't raised to trash steel cents.
Thanks for all the input. I never thought about the sledge hammer - steel die idea. If it was hit by a sledge hammer would the edge be so different - one side thin and the other thick? Perhaps so depending on the striking!?! My question is could this be an original mint mistake? It is the same weight as other cents. Is it something to submit to a grading company?
It can't be an original mint mistake. What would have to happen for this to come out of a press? You'd have to have a 1941 bronze cent fed into the stream of 1943 planchets. Before that 1941 cent entered the press, a 1943 cent would have to get stuck against the reverse die after it was struck. Then, in the very next cycle, you'd have to get the1941 cent and a new 1943 planchet loaded into the press, so that the 1941 cent was struck between the blank planchet (against its obverse) and the 1943 cent (1941 reverse against 1943 obverse). Oh, yeah, and that 1943 planchet would actually have to be a 1943 blank, without an upturned rim, because otherwise we'd see the rim impressed on the bronze cent's obverse. That's three or four errors all happening simultaneously. Finding a 1943 cent struck on a bronze planchet (or a bronze cent) would be easy by comparison. Sledgehammers, on the other hand, are really, really common.