There has been debate if the U.S. Mint actually waffled or "Mint Cancelled" 1 cent coins. Well, I feel I finally have the "proof" I was looking for. Someone sent me this coin below. It's a 2009-S (proof) copper Lincoln cent bicentennial "Presidency in Washington" reverse. In my opinion, it appears to be a genuine Mint-cancelled (i.e. "waffled") coin with the same waffling pattern seen on other known waffled coins. I hope the debate is now over. Yes, the Mint DID waffle 1 cent coins. Do they still? I don't know. Now the question remains as to why was this coin sent to the waffling machine? What was it's imperfection? ~Joe Cronin
Since only one has been found (is that right?), I hypothesize that this is an accident or an inside job (is there a waffled nail available?).
There are about 11 in the batch; this was only one of them. I can see why the San Francisco Mint would want to waffle proof cent errors as it did with other denominations. I'm sticking with my claim that these were cancelled at the Mint itself.
That's a keeper! If you ever did want to do a waffled set, that one right there would be the hardest to find. I've looked, quarters and small dollars are most common followed by dimes, nickels and half dollars. This is the first cent I've ever seen. Right up there in my opinion with the Martha washington "nonsense" tests and Eisenhower one off for some unknown reason that appeared.
When I visited the US Mint in Philadelphia I remember something in the tour that mentioned about maintenance people who need to keep the floor clean and clear of debris and coins that are dropped. Maybe the procedure is to toss the Cents into a bin that contains other coins for waffling.
Doesn't matter. The "theory" that the mint doesn't waffle cents will most likely continue. I've debunked it a couple times with images already but it continues.
