Is this a die crack going along the whole top edge of this 1990 D Linconln cent or can the whole copper layer kinda slide crating a wrinkle? I imagine at the rate they stamp these, the heat gets high enough to melt the zink and then the whole think is kinda like one of those foil wrapped chocolate coins left out in the sun.
Sorry, but it's damage. Whatever caused the scratch also damaged the letters. You can see the displaced metal, especially in the S. It also looks like there may be some exposed zinc that's beginning to darken/corrode along the scratch BTW: the minting process doesn't generate enough heat to melt zinc
