I have seen several comments on 1943 cents with ghost 4. I have one that is completely missing the last digit, the 3. Any comments on value?
Welcome to the neighborhood, Michael! What you have is the result of a grease-filled die. What happens is that grease and debris is compacted into the recesses with every strike, and a part of the design seems to disappear. It's a common mistake that can happen to any part of the design. Chris
It appears as wear. It is a zinc coated steel coin and the zinc is very reactive. Whether natural or aided a little by people who had it , is impossible to tell. the 3 is due to the grease cpm9ball mentions above. If someone gave me 10 cents of more , I would take it . Jim
I appreciate your responses. I have looked very closely through a loupe and just see no trace of a digit. The ghost 4 would at least show very light. This is not worn a great deal. Thanks again.
The Die filled with grease and that prevented the last digit from showing. A minor but common issue. Nice find.
With mint grease, it fills the die, and being heavy grease with metallic debris, it isn't the normal automotive thickness, so it doesn't compress enough to allow the metal to form the digit or letter depending where it is. "ghost letters or numbers " does not carry much if any premium unless it is very wide spread over the coin. It also is not considered a mint error by numismatists because it is machine induced like mechanical doubling. Jim
Yeah, nice find. They just ran out of 3s when they minted that one. Look at the I in LIBERTY. The die was plugged there, too, although not so much as to obliterated it, as in the 3.
