I've had a bizzare coin in my collection for years that I've never thought much about, recently some friends of mine have been urging me to find out more about it, and this is my first stop. It's very hard to describe. It has both an obverse and a reverse on both sides of the coin. Some of the words such as "United States of America" are backwards. The stamps for obverse and reverse superimpose each other on both sides of the coin at odd angles. The date on the penny is 1975 (I believe, it's kind of hard to read). One side of the coin in smushed in a bit, creating a flat side about 1.5 cm long. Below is the best digital image I could manage with what I had on hand. I can get a scan if one is requested. So basically, could this be anything interesting, or should I not bother getting my hopes up.
If the camera has macro, set it on that and move it back from the coin a little more and try again. Don't use the zoom. Then crop the photo. This one is too blurry.
Hi Raatcharch, and to the forum. The coin looks "smushed" because someone made a coin sandwich with yours in the middle and then applied pressure, perhaps with a sledgehammer or by placing it on railroad tracks. A real double-struck coin would have the lettering in the correct orientation on both strikes.
I concur with Roy. Your description is what one would expect of a "squeeze job" (a.k.a. "sandwich job", "hammer job"). It's a vandalized coin, not a mint error.
