Hi There, I have an odd 1982 American penny with weird holes in the surface I have not seen anything like it before. Can anyone provide me with any information. Does anyone know what they are or how they may have been created? Many thanks. Dave
It's interesting how one of the holes seem to have pulled/distorted the top of the T here: If this is a zinc 82 I would almost wonder if the copper coating was somehow sloughing off in these spots from environmental damage of some sort... edit: I just reread the title. pffft - ixnay on the zinc theory.
clearly infested with copper termites. gotta look really close for their little antennas in the holes, they are tiny.
My new theory is that it had a glancing blow heading up and in that sheared off a layer of the T and wrapped it around to the right (and separated part of it and moved it to the top of the indent). Happened to hit just right, I guess. Edit: the only problem with this theory is that the existing/remaining top of the T looks just as high as you would expect it...
That was the main thing that puzzled me...the distortion to the top of the T...how that could have happened. I can't see how a ding or a blow could have done that
It looks like raised metal from the dig / hole. Same as under the E. A sideways ding will leave raised metal.
They're just on that one side, right? Micrometeorites. It was left out one night, that side facing up.
While it may be an interesting mental exercise, I wouldn't get too worried about figuring out the exact cause of the damage. There are just too many ways for PMD to occur. Once you've determined that it couldn't occur during the minting process, that's usually a good place to stop.