I have a 1994-D Lincoln penny that has a groove arcing from the '4' (in 1994) to the last 'T' in trust. It has the same curvature as the edge of the penny. Also, on further inspection, the groove seems to be made up of ~3 smaller grooves. It does not look like an accidental scratch that occurred through circulation. The precision indicates to me that this happened during minting. Does anyone know what this is or if it is worth anything?
Dan, I tend to agree coin wrapping machine, but is there any way to post pictures of the last "T" in TRUST and a close up of the 4 in the date? Thanks, Jody
Below are pictures of the T and the 4. They are not much better than the first pictures I posted but maybe it's good enough. I am taking pictures with a cell phone's camera through my 16x loupe so I am limited in what I can do. The groove stops about 1mm before the last T in 'TRUST', but indentations are visible on both the T and S (you just can't see the groove on the surface of the coin anymore). It also seems to stop just before the '4', but indentations/grooves are visible going through the '4' as well as the 'D' mint mark and into the lower part of Lincoln's bust.
Dan, Thanks for posting those extra photos. I'll definitely say counting/rolling machine damage. Also, welcome to Coin Talk!
Thanks! I have been browsing the site for awhile now and figured I might as well join. Counting/rolling machine damage would make sense since the pennies I'm going through came rolled from the bank. I found similar markings on a few other pennies from the rolls as well.