I clearly see letters above the date but I can’t figure out the circle in middle of the penny I don’t know what I have please help. New member still learning thank you! With love and pennies! Andrea ❤️
No..That is not coin machine nor crimper damage. It was hit with a hard object like a pipe. That's why the area on the Obverse looks as a circular shape. The force put on the Reverse pushed it in. Sorry Andrea.. Not a Mint Error of any kind.
My first thought was someone was going to make it into a coin ring, stamped it with the die (off-center, of course), realized it was off-center and pitched it & spent it?
A Cent is too small to make a coin ring. It was simply a bored person who had nothing better to do and hit it with the end of a small circumference pipe. Like the copper pipe on AC Condenser units.
That would be the letters YTR from LIBERTY but backwards. The Cent was probably on top of another Cent so when the person struck it those letters were incused into the area in question.
Another thought - it could be that a coin or two was/were used to shim a wobbly table/stool/step ladder.
No! No! No! Not another Penny Lover! I like Lionel Ritchie, but this is too much. Welcome to the neighborhood, just the same.
At first I liked that possibility. But then I think the coin is way too clean and scratch-free for that to have taken place.
It would have to have been two pennies, one on top of the other, and the table would need to have one heck of a lot of weight on it in order to impress the "YTR" on this penny.