I am not sure what this is,..probably post mint damage. I looked for other indentions with what it looks like as a raised number 1, or any other marks to suggest a grip of some kind was used to hold the coin to make this mark. I can not find any other marks other than this this one. How would or could this have been done without other damage some where else on the coin? The damage?or what ever it is above the U in trust at the top of the coin. Hope the pictures are ok..I am thinking Iliked my old camera better.
The images are too small to make anything out. I don't want to be difficult, but it might be wiser to spend your time looking for varieties and errors that happen with some level of frequency instead making deep analysis on mystery parts of coins that are almost certainly PMD. PMD does not need a logical explanation to be what it is, where as Mint errors do. Honestly, the chances of finding a coin with such an error with a Mint origin is almost entirely unlikely. It boarders on a waste of time. You need to be searching and spending maybe 5-10 seconds of time per coin and move on. I promise you after 5-10,000 Lincoln cents you will find a few interesting and legitimate coins.
Wow. A great deal of my enjoyment is trying to figure out how something occurred with that coin to catch my interest whether it be a true error or PMD. If I spend what you consider wasted time inspecting and perhaps researching that coin, so be it if I'm enjoying it. I would think that one would gather wisdom learning how something occurred to the coin rather than just passing it by. Heck there isn't a 100% consensus on exactly what an error opposed to PMD is.
Tuffjump, you're missing my point. What I am saying is, just because something cannot be explaned as logical PMD doesn't mean by default it is a Mint error instead. One needs to try and understand the minting process, the P, S, D system outlined in many books. If you become familar with where an error can occur, one sees a lot of possibilities, yet it is very much finite. A true Mint error can only be explained as a Mint error if it can be explained in the proper terms. Nothing else works. One cannot say, "there's no way this is PMD, it has to a Mint error instead." One can also not explain a Mint error as being a Mint error by dening all arguments that something is PMD. PMD could be the result of many years of different abuses one on top of the other and may never make sense to someone. I disagree on one of your points. There is a line between a mint error and post mint damage. Some collectors disagree as to whether a particular error is collectible or not (maybe due to how common the error is). And some collectors disagree as to whether MD is a Mint error or damage (not post mint damage mind you) as it occurs after the initial strike. If you feel different you are more than free to explain. And anyone who feels so inclined to examine coins and speculate about PMD is free to do so if one is inclined. Just try and keep it as PMD instead of widly speculating it is a bizarre mint error that defies the process in which coins are minted.
I agree with both of you...I really do not spend more than 15 seconds on a coin, unless, like this one,...catches my eye. I just didn't find anything to indicate on the coin that it had been held in place by grips..or hammered...so I thought, how did this mark get here? and why is a mark that is clear as a bell, not obscured or mushy. It is fun to try and figure out, whether it be PMD or not...I would like to see a die up close to see if this mark could have been made by a slip of the hand. I am researching...and of course still looking through rolls and rolls...I don't post near as much as I used to, and I still go through a large amount of coins on a weekly basis. I listen to the ones that know, and try not to take what they are saying as personal...I know that this is a learning process, and that the learning is forever. I enjoy it, and I really have enjoyed and been helped an awful lot on this site. I appreciate everyone who has taken the time to explain something that may be a mundane or "simple" question to them,...yet they have taken the time to help a beginner take the baby steps necessary to grow in knowledge of this wonderful Hobby...and have fun with it!
Michelle, I liked your old camera better too! Have you tried opening an account(free) at Photobucket? Their images size nicely when linked in the forums here. I for one enjoy seeing oddities, even if PMD, so I'd still like to see a better picture of the coin.
