I found this penny in a jar of coins I was looking through. On the edge of the front side, it looks like more copper was smashed down on the "In God We Trust" and the "L" in Liberty. But the other side looks perfectly normal. There are no markings on the back that seem unusual. I looked for more pictures like it online, but I couldn't find any. You can see that the words and letters are underneath the rim, and Lincoln's face is flattened to the height of the rim. I have no idea what it is other than possibly of it being CUD. I need some help on this.
Ok, I'll take another pic - but what would have made it look like that? Did somebody try to flatten it? And if so, why does the back look normal?
because only the front was damaged like that. We could speculate ... but only the person (or even machine) would know that. For example, if it got stuck in a dryer between the drums (after it fell through a lint trap) one side could get worn/damaged like that .. possibly. Ever hear all the coins flapping around in commercial dryers ?
Well, your probably right. The coin is probably just damage. But the rim though... The rim looks like its covering the words - not the words got damaged/worn off at the top. But, whatever. Even if it is worth 2 cents, I'm still keeping it.
Only the bored person who did it would know the answer to that question. It's definitely damaged. Not a Mint Error.
"But the rim though..." 59 years this cent has been in circulation. What we can tell you, is that it's appearance did *not* occur during the minting process. Which leaves 59 years .. through how many hands, machines, stuck in some machine, etc that 59 years for visual appearance that you see to happen. And if you conjecture even more, that 59 years for someone else to wonder why the "mint error" was passed over ... 59 years of circulation in cash registers, people pockets, coin jars, etc ...
I'm at a dryer coin. It's not just the rim but all of the high points on the obverse. This side was facing out and getting beat up while the reverse was facing away and does not show the same effect.
It appears that the coin was damaged after it left the mint. The high points on the obverse are all affected while the entire reverse appears to have been protected from the damage. It kinda-sorta looks like the coin was squeezed in a an arbor press with a piece of rubber or leather protecting the reverse. That would certainly squash down all the high points of the coin’s obverse. The squeeze would probably make the diameter larger than a normal cent. Perhaps someone simply sanded or ground the obverse side. What ever happened, some clues have been lost due to subsequent circulation. Of course I don’t know what really happened to the cent. It is a good conversation piece and I would certainly save it in my collection.
Not a 'dryer' coin, as the reverse rims would be the same as the obv. As others have said, we weren't there when someone played with the obv. rims, but it is not an error coin of any kind, I'm sorry to say.
I have never seen a dryer coin that has damage on just one side. The damage comes, not only from rotating between the inner and outer drum, but from the high heat as well. How can the heat affect just one side of the coin? Chris
The OPs 1960 cent reminded me of this real mint error from Brazil. I posted this 1948 Brazil 20 centavos at CT a couple years ago. The obverse design is either Mr. Rui Barbosa or Groucho Marx. That is an ongoing debate. Apparently, the obverse die was at one time misaligned to the right far enough that the obverse die was hitting/scraping against the collar. This contact with the collar apparently caused the edge of the obverse die to be shaved away (down to the middle of the peripheral lettering). The obverse die was then apparently reseated correctly in the press and was used to continue making coins. Those subsequent coins are like my example with the thick rim (cud) that extends to the middle of the obverse lettering. Mike Diamond remarked a couple years back that this is a "die attrition error". I call it a cud. Sorry for not posting the reverse photo. The reverse is perfectly centered.
Look at how the high areas on the head, face and shoulder are also flattened. That whole side was impacted by something dense while resting on something less dense capable of absorbing the force of the impact.
I concede. The only reason for me to say this was I had a cent stuck in my dryer but was not floating around. It got trapped in the barrel with just one side facing the tumbling of the clothes. There was no jingling so I have no idea how long it was in there but showed this effect once I finally found it.
I wish there was a commercial dryer repairman on this board. I'd love to see the specimens they'd pull out. I'm sure there all states from "0 to 100%" of "dryer coin" out there probably varying from different types of dryers, etc too. I'm clueless of the breath of it.
