What do you think of this cent?

I was wondering what would cause this. The coin is a 1996 Lincoln Cent. The groves you see are very slightly raised from the surface. They start to the far left of Column 1 and seem to disappear behind the column and continue on the right side at the bottom of bay 1. I tried to get a good angle on the coin to show the ridges are raised. I could not get the light to hit the ridges correctly without blinding out the optics of the camera. I posted the 2 best pics I could get.

In the first pic you see the ridges disappear behind the first column then continue at the bottom right of the first column in bay #1.



In this second pic...I tried to show that the ridges are indeed raised but the glare is terrible.

 

Log in or Sign up to hide this ad.

Looks like the die got scratched, but with what is the question. Maybe it was one of those flea combs for pets...

 

They look like die polish marks to me.
Guy~

 

I will 2x2 it and maybe get a chance to get it to someone to look at. Thank you for the input.

cladhunter13

 

Looks like post mint damage
No added value

 

I would concur, die polish marks seems likely. The reason I doubt it was post mint was because of the marks located inside the columns, since on the die the columns would be incuse they would not have picked up the little abrasive that marked the raised areas of the dies, (which are the fields on the coin)

 

I did not think it was post mint damage as I would expect for the coin to be damaged in that way would of also damaged the column. I figured the die was possibly damaged :hammer: in a way that only the surface area of the coin would be affected the same as chip and others have suggested. I just was not sure what would of caused the scratches on the die.

I will have to read up more on die polishing and damage that can be done during the process. Either way...its a interesting coin to me.

I will have a bunch of pictures I will be posting in the Canadian coin variety/error section soon. A few extra spines and some other coins of interest.

Have a good day.

 

Looks mint damage,looks like a die gouge.maybe during polishing,the end of the drill where the buffer meets the metal,it tapped it and bounced/jumped a couple times.Like when you go to hand saw metal.the first couple strokes like to bounce a little,until you have enough of a groove to keep sawing.a fast rotating drill,when hitting metal,it will bounce.thats what I think when I see it.not sure what kind of name you could give it,for that type of mint error.