Just found this today was looking through a roll pennys got from the bank.noticed these lines running behind the letters an the memorial. errror? lines go behind united states an u can see them running behind the memorial .any ideas?
I found a couple sites with articles about lines on the obverse circles on 1996 Lincoln cents, but not much like you saw on the reverse.....did you notice anything on the obverse?........Contact me if you can send me more pics and i'll do reserch for you......here are the sites I found; http://www.errorvariety.com/Lathe-lines/index.html http://www.coincommunity.com/forum/topic.asp?ARCHIVE=true&TOPIC_ID=62994 (this one is more like yours)
This is actually a dramatic showing of feeder finger damage, not lathe lines. Very cool, and surely a keeper!
Thhe press has two metal "fingers" that push the struck coin off the die and carry another planchet to drop into the coining chamber after the anvil die retracts. If the anvil die rises too far the fingers can scrape across the face of the die and scrape grooves into the face. This is feed finger damage. Since the damage is on the fields of the die it appears to run behind the letters and the Memorial.
thx conder now i have a better understanding. is it worth holding on to since it is considered damage? sounds like its not realy an error.
It may not be worth much of a premium, maybe $2-3. It isn't damage to the coin, but to the die, and so it can be collectable. This coin has strong feederfinger marks. I'd keep it; it's an educational piece.