1936 Wheat Cent

Discussion in 'Coin Chat' started by MCPark82, Jun 11, 2019.

  1. MCPark82

    MCPark82 Active Member

    Here is a coin that my grandfather, a Marine who passed away from lung cancer in 1992 when I was 10, had saved away since God knows when. My grandmother still lived in the same house until a year or so ago when she moved into a nursing home. But she told me that if I went to her house and looked in the closets around the door frames, I’d find some old jars of coins and could keep whatever I found. I found about 6 jars in various areas of the house, that’s where the bulk of my coins come from, as well as when I really started coin hunting and looking at every coin I came across. I pulled out all the wheat cents, watched a few videos on which ones I should look for, and didn’t think I really had anything special out of the 50 or so wheat pennies I’ve got. But today, for some reason I decided to take another look at them. I guess because I hadn’t looked at them since I first got them, and I’ve learned quite a bit since then. Plus I didn’t have a loupe back then and couldn’t look at the details anyhow. So this one is pretty interesting, and I’m sure it’s just PMD of some kind, but I can’t help feeling like this could be some kind of freakish oddity. For one, the raised area is exactly where the mint mark should be. For two, the reverse of the coin shows a hole in that spot, and when I shine a light down into it it almost looks like I can see a letter or number although it’s difficult to tell for sure. It almost looks to me like they tried to punch the mint mark into the reverse and somehow it went clear thru and left an indentation in the front of the coin... but I don’t know how the mintmarks were done back then and if that could even be possible. Third, whatever left the cut mark on the reverse clear thru the edge also looks like it was done my a machine that was attempting to stamp a letter or number...
    would love to hear some thoughts on this! Thanks all!
     

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  3. thomas mozzillo

    thomas mozzillo Well-Known Member

    Mint marks were hand punched on the obverse of die under the date. IMO all you have is a damaged cent.
     
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  4. desertgem

    desertgem Senior Errer Collecktor

    Long ago, some mint marks were fraudulently added to Phila. coins that did not have one, such as an S to a 1909VDB. The skill was to drill a small whole in the edge and drill to location under where a mm normally was, and raise the letter by pushing it up from beneath and then close the hole. Maybe this was a beginner, but why start on a 1936? Or it may not be such at all , but it popped in my mind when I saw the photo.
    Jim
     
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