Good morning, I found this in my change and not quite sure if it is a mint error or just used and abused. Please share your thoughts with me.
Hi Venus and welcome to CT. Yes, this poor cent has been terribly abused. Not a mint error at all. Sorry bout that.
It was altered after it left the US mint. People do this when they are bored. Not a mint error of any kind
In my opinion, it looks like someone pinched this penny in between their thumb & forefinger and had fun trying to see how close they could get with a Dremel Rototool, using a pre-1982 cent. You would see the zinc core if it was minted after 1982.
Totally damaged. We had a poster who actually had one very similar to your reverse. With it rounded/smoothed out up to a few columns in the middle. It was some nice work. The OP though, totally refused to accept that it is actually damaged and can't understand why someone would do that. Way to closed minded to their own limits rather that understand people have hobbies, they test things, and throw it away and try again .. innovation in one's hobbies. All the reddish gunk on the back makes me think they used red rouge as the polishing compound.
It is possible that it was used as a tool, such as a spacer. I've used them temporarily to level a table. Coins have been used in place of screw drivers, so there are many possibilities.
Hello and welcome--Like paddyman said it's what people do when they are bored so I'm expecting to see a lot more of these
You've already received the answers to you question, so nothing more to add. Just curious, you've been a member for 4 years but have only posted 25 messages. Are you just an interested party and not really a collector?