First post I was digging through my bag of loose whieaties when i cam across this one. its a 1946 with serriously marred surface, allmost looks sandblasted, i cant tell if was struck like that or this is some kind of unuasual wear. there is allso a clear die crack on the obverse across lincolns forehead, and what looks like a lesser one across following the same angle across his shoulder. on the reverse there are two areas where the rim is seperated and some pitting on the left wheat sheave. has anyone seen anything like this?
Almost looks like the coin has spent some time in a corrosive environment, most likely some kind of acid. I don't think this is a mint error. Look at the edge of the coin. If it has the same rough appearance, then that would help confirm the corrosive theory. Acid will slowly eat the metal away, and the more dense parts of the metal will erode slower than the less dense sections, thus the uneven pitted appearance. The obverse straight lines that look like die cracks are rolling lines created when the strip of metal used to punch out the coin blanks are rolled to the proper thickness for the coins. These lines are created when the metal ingot being rolled doesn't roll out with consistancy, leaving some denser areas, usually in straight lines parallel to the rolling. Usually, these lines are flattened out when the blank is struck, but the different densities are still there. When acid eats away the coins surface, the denser areas will be eaten slower than the less dense areas, leaving an uneven surface with pits and rolling lines. Looks kinda strange, though.
Howdy palindrome - Welcome to the Forum !! If I had to guess - I'd say this coin was either buried or spent some time on a parking lot being driven over. As for the line - if it is a die crack it will be a raised line. If it is not - then it is damage. Of course it is possible that cdb's explanation is accurate as well.
Many of the wheat cents that I dig up around here are pitted in this manner due to the alkaline soil of this section of desert which I live in,, although it sometimes take a good deal of cleaning to see them, I only clean the ones that are so corroded that I cant make out the date I believe that is a die crack though the line looks raised in the pics.
