Hi Heathster and welcome to CoinTalk. Will you please post the complete front and back side of your coin? What you are seeing may be deteriorated die doubling but show us your coin completely and wait for a CT expert (I am not one) to come by and give you their opinion. Have you searched on the Internet to see what the 1970 s doubled die obverse penny looks like? Try to find it and compare it to what you have. Then wait for your experts.
And I should have known it was machine doubling because the "doubling" looks rather stretched out and is not going in the direction of the edge of the coin?
The first pick up is the MM and the date both showing the same doubling. Hub doubling doesn't happen this way. The MM were hand punched into the working die. Second is the flat and shelf like appearance.
Ahh. Nice, didn't think of how mm and date doubling would be different! I learned from someones elses thread!
MD happens when the die slams into the planchet and bounces back ever so slightly before applying pressure. The coin moves slightly between the slam and the pressure. the first impression does not have the full depth of the die so it looks flat where as the pressure stroke does.
