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Message:: [QUOTE="ewomack, post: 3281185, member: 15588"]Yes, "lowball" is probably also a generous term for this cent. I can understand the "lowball" qualification of "without damage" because it would be pretty easy to just create or mutilate other coins like this one, whereas natural wear has its own look and feel that is much harder, if not impossible, to manufacture effectively. The coin above came from a lot that was apparently owned by people with access to machine tooling, such as lathes and bandsaws, so they apparently had some fun with these. I wonder if it was the result of a carving experiment gone wrong or maybe just a reveling in the joy of harmless mutilation? In any case, the most recent coin in the lot dated to 1958. After more searching I also found a wheat cent that had the "In God We Trust," "Liberty" and "E Pluribus Unum" removed entirely, along with one number from the date. The alteration markings were very obvious and would fool no one. Someone was apparently having fun seeing what they could accomplish with certain tools. Given what I know of the source my best guess is that all this fun happened sometime in the early 1960s when wheat pennies were probably still the norm and Memorial cents were the new novelty. At that point in time destroying the wheaties may have made more sense.[/QUOTE]