This penny does not balance with my other wheat pennys. It feels lighter. Does anyone know why it would weigh less.
Wear and tear from the looks of it. I mean at 89 years old it looks like its been through a lot. 4 ex wives. 7 kids. Depression, war you know the usual [emoji6] Sent from my LGMS210 using Tapatalk
There is a tolerance. Not all copper cents weigh 3.1. Some can be slightly more or less. Assuming this was one that was less, and subtract a little weight for wear, and that's what you end up with.
You didn't say how much less it weighs, but the coin is well worn and likely lost weight to wear and tear.
Just thought maybe it was struck on a different planchet. But after reading your comment, my hopes were shot down. Lol Thanks for the help.
A good general rule: If you see something “different” on a coin with a lot of wear or damage, the unusual area is almost always related to the wear/damage and not an error. That’s not to say that you can’t find errors on worn/damaged coins, but it really takes a good understanding of the minting process to separate the damage from the error. This isn’t meant to be discouraging. Keep looking. Remember, you have a better chance to struck by lightning twice in your life than you have to win the lottery, but people win the lottery (it’s just not you and me)
I just recently found a Lincoln Cent which appears to have been worn almost completely smooth. I weighed the coin and it weighed 2.5 grams. The measurements of the coin are the same as it was minted. Is this a mint error?