I am very new to collecting, and new here. I recently picked up a 1857 FLying Eagle Cent at an auction. It was part of a lot, and is not in great condition. It has several pits and stress cracks in the field. What is intriguing is that the edge appears to have letters stamped on it, and is flattened out. I can find nothing researching it, and was hoping for some opinions as to whether or not something like this could be a mint error. The pointer is where the "letters" appear on the outer edge. Thanks for any thoughts.
It looks like post mint damage to me. Something struck the edge really hard and caused deformation. Over time the bulge caused by the hit wore down to the flat areas seen where the raised rim should be. To mrbrklyn...my current future ex-wife (we are not married yet) is from NYC. She never answers a question with one word. Are you really from New York?
