This is an anomaly only found on the reverse of 1973 cents. According to a thread I had a couple of years ago Mike Diamond said when they were first discovered people thoght they were doubled dies. However no two were exactly the same some were faint while others were very prominent. All were diferent shapes. They aren't worth anything but I still keep the more prominent ones. No one knows exactly how they were formed.
I will still update this if I hear back from my inquiry, but this sounds pretty definitive. Too bad it was never completely understood. It certainly has a sloping edge like a device would. I wish I could see that old thread to read the theories.
Was so excited that I found it I forgot to say thank you to everyone for helping me. Much Appreciated!
Thanks Rick, I've seen similar coins not as strong as OP. Now, I'm leaning heavily to a clash but still CANNOT explain the high ridge on the memorial above the pillars. Usually, the easiest answer is the best so it MUST be a clash as that is a lot of damage to a die! Too much to be an accident to the die unless it became clashed.
There's always an explanation for the area of question, just finding the right one, can take sometime ..
I wrote this without noticing the ANSWER! My faith is restored. You had me coming over to your side (clash mark) kicking and dragging.
Just for the record, here's an idea of what a rotated clash would look like once Lincoln started infringing onto the second unit of pillar space:
Thanks, The reason I did not think it was a clash was the raised area on top of the pillars. That damage would have gone very deep into the die. Note that it looks nothing like a design clash even if rotated. Rick, almost got me to his way of thinking as this coin is way out of the ordinary and I'll confess to never seeing this on a Lincoln. The fact that it is only on '73's is why. I don't look at '73 Lincolns for anything - now I'll add these to my list of dates to check.