Reply to Thread

Message:: [QUOTE="Josh Hetzler, post: 2313433, member: 76858"]I recently found this while searching through pennies. It's a 1995 D Lincoln Cent - BU. It has a very clear "S" underneath that is more than a mere "phantom". There is actually raised metal. I haven't seen any others like it. Is this worth sending in for grading? Is this common? Thoughts? Note: I am aware that in the mid to late 90s, some dies were made with the D or S on them and were inadvertently sent to Philadelphia. Instead of creating new dies, the mint polished the mintmark off the dies. Some dies left a "phantom mint mark" because they had not been 100% wiped away. I have seen a few of these, but they are truly "phantom" and can only be seen on high grade coins and only barely when holding it up and tilting it in certain light. Thus far, these have apparently only been reported on Philadelphia cents with a "D" phantom mintmark. However, I'm not aware of any "S" dies having been polished at the Denver mint, but that seems to be what happened here. Moreover, this one shows much more than a "phantom" mintmark. It's actually a clearly visible raised trace of an S. That's my speculation on this. Haven't ever seen one reported.[/QUOTE]