Being new to collecting, I recently came across this Penny that ALL the lettering, date and the Lincoln memorial and the collar on the observe and reverse are incused. Has anyone seen this before? if so what do you call this error? Does it have any worth to it? Help please!! I'm lost on this one and can't even find anything on the web that comes close to it. Hope these pics help.
Not an error, nor a formerly encased "lucky penny". Severe environmental damage. Probably what happened is that some of the copper plating was eroded from the zinc somehow (sandpaper, parking lot, etc.) and then the zinc not protected by the copper corroded, leaving the pits you see.
Couldn't it be both? That rim looks like other formerly encased cents but maybe it as all corrosion. I think it's safe to say it's not an error.
Looks like all corrosion. I don't see the pinched rim you get with encased cents. I also don't think there are encased cents much newer than the one posted above. Bottom line -- spend what's left of it.
Science experiment, some person filled it down so only some of the copper on high points was gone, then they put it in lemon juice for a couple days, I did that once and the results looked just like that. The lemon juice eats way at the zinc but not copper leaving that result.
mhammer, a little understanding of the minting process would help, and then maybe you could answer my question. I don't think we need to go any further back than the working hub. The working hub is used to make the working dies. The hub has all devices (lettering, bust, Memorial, etc.) raised which become recessed on the working dies which, in turn, produce the raised devices on the coin. With that in mind, how could the lettering on the obverse be recessed while, at the same time, the bust of Lincoln is raised if it is not PMD? Chris
Chris, I'll hijack this thread, now that the question about the original coin has been answered, and confuse the issue you bring up a little with this picture. (Took a very long time ago with film, scanned from a print.) Note that the date is both raised and incuse (as are LIBERTY and IGWT). This coin was struck through a die cap that had been pounded paper thin, then fell onto the planchet slightly out of registration with the die. The date and legends, as well as part of Lincoln's outline, were pressed through the dropped die cap into the fresh planchet resulting in what you see. Totally unrelated to the original coin, but shows what weird things can happen in the minting process.
Yes, that is a cool one, John, and thanks for posting it. I just hope the OP doesn't think this is what happened to his coin. Chris