I know. on a funny note, as I posted my above comment, I had a vision of diffusing a situation: like a bomb squad guy (before they had robots ) choosing red wire or black wire. Lol, I clipped red and it might blow up in my face. I admit I know less about the OPs past posts than yours. I think I get what you mean.
For those of you who apparently missed it, cladking already said - "I'm hoping someone will post a picture before the thread gets very old. I've got everything I need except the ability to use the camera on a coin." For those of you who apparently don't know it, cladking probably knows more about modern coins than anybody in numismatics. His knowledge is unsurpassed on the subject and readily recognized by other knowledgeable people. If he tells you something about modern coins, you'd be best off to believe the man. As for the rest of the shenanigans that has occurred in this thread - that's enough. Either make a post that stays on topic or don't post at all. I'd advise you to heed that warning.
Doug is absolutely correct. Sam (Cladking) is indeed the king of clads. I have learned a lot from him over the past couple of years. Sorry Sam, but I sold all of my 1996 mint sets last year on eBay so cannot post any pics. TC
I still want to see them myself. Thanks to Doug, TC, BadThad, & jallengomez for clarification of reputation. @cladking did you send your example to an attributor yet?
My guess is that there is a prosaic explanation. Maybe a late die stage or partially filled die. I agree with the others though, I'd send it to an attributor and get their opinion.
Thanks GDJMSP. It's appreciated. With all that build up I better not be wrong. I've got a few more details. The PL obverse surfaces are distinct enough that one might be able to pick these out by the obverse alone. My estimate of the incidence could be off a little since it appears the die pair was in use a very brief time resulting in these being "bunched up" a lot when they were shipped. I'm guessing they were caught but some were already sent out. It is a single die pair. I doubt it was a hubbing variety because it affects the entire top of the coin and nothing else. The lettering on "UNITED STATES OF AMERICA" is simply different. Perhaps they were preparing for a design change that didn't occur or something. There's no apparent distortion in the shape or placement of these letters. Coins displaying it are fairly well struck and extremely PL. This may sound absurd that such a dramatic coin could hide in plain sight for nearly twenty years but here it is. Not only was it in plain sight but highlighted by the stunning PL sufaces (especiually the obverse). I'm sure it wasn't another gift from Philip Diehl like the W dime marking the FDR 50th anniversary in the same set but it certainly will be a boost to those sets containing it. It looks like the incidence is in the "sweet spot" where it's common enough it can be found but scarce enough it's worth looking. There's still a lot of research that needs to be done. I sure don't know how I missed it. There are some tremendoius coins in the '96 mintt sets that will grab your attention but this is one of them even without a different reverse.
If you can't take pics of the anomaly, at least send it to an attributor who can photograph it and let all of us see what it is... You may want to join and post on lincolncentresource.net. There are a few variety attributors who post regularly there that you can contact.
Sam, You might get Mike Diamond's opinion, but I search Lincolns almost exclusively, and it's not unusual to see that exact same type of thinning on the tops of the letters of the outer devices. Could be from abrasion, die deterioration, and/or grease as it gets pushed towards the periphery of the die. Since you say that all of these have been from a single die, I would believe it can be attributed to one or more of the above occurrences. I do not believe this to be a new RDV.