Great find. It is indeed a 1999 cent struck over a 1998 cent. It's possible this occurred at the end of the year, when a 1998 cent remained...
Since the design is complete on both faces, the proper diagnosis for the quarter is an uncentered broadstrike.
I agree with those who see backward incuse lettering. If such is the case, then these are simply contact marks from the obverse of another cent....
I agree that it looks like an embedded piece of metal, probably struck-in. Your bison has a die dent, not a die gouge. It's exceptionally strong.
The clip is genuine. The letters of E PLURIBUS UNUM are stretched out (metal flow), there's a weakening of the rim opposite the clip (Blakesley...
The presence and strength of the ghost images are variable. But in most cases the "blank" face will show very faint ghost impressions of both...
Your coin was on top when two planchets were struck within the collar. An in-collar uniface strike in which one face is directly struck by the...
It looks like an in-collar uniface strike.
The internal side of the ridge has a very broad, shallow, almost imperceptible slope. The external side of the ridge drops off abruptly.
A dropped letter, or any dropped filling, is a plug of compacted "gunk" that falls out a recess in the die face and is struck into a planchet.
After further study and some experimentation, I've come to agree with Ken Potter that this is a dropped letter. I tried to achieve the same sort...
The official term for this error is "improper alloy mix". The copper, tin, and zinc were not sufficiently mixed together. Some of these coins...
It's the incuse T. A contact mark from the edge of another coin will be raised. A contact mark from the obverse or reverse design would be incuse.
I finally got the opportunity to inspect the purported dropped letter and my conclusion is that it was probably generated after the coin left the...
The ones I've seen (a total of four) were altered outside the mint by a process similar to sandblasting.
The first dime was damaged after the strike. The second was intentionally altered.
Die scrapes from a feeder finger.
Most likely an effect of die deterioration.
This question was already answered on another forum. This is a brockage from a struck fragment.
I told jzacknae that it would be worthwhile sending the coin to James Wiles for his evaluation. I think it has promise, but the photo's...
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