So I decided to buy the red book so I can answer my own questions as much as possible, but I was wondering about the Lincoln Cent. I know that the matte finish is sometimes used to signify a key date or event ( I believe I have read about 2015 cent?) But I seem to find random years with a matte finish. Even same year and mint. Question is do errors exist because of a wrong finish? Just took this for the heck of it. The 1965 looks odd... Thanks for any time spent educating. me. Ok wait, I am obviously tired or blind. I mean on roosevelt dimes more commonly. I apologize, I believe those are dimes in the pics. Anyhow would anybody be able to answer the question that is in this post somewhere ?
The '65 dime is corroded, that's why it looks that way. Could have been anything from salt water to acid to do that, but I'm leaning towards acid. To understand the matte finish well that's a different thing. As to your question of could there be an error ? It would be dang near impossible. Could a matte finish coin be put into circulation ? Yes, but given they are very limited in numbers, unlikely. The reason an error is all but impossible is because of the way matte finish coins are produced. First the planchets are specially prepared. And the dies are also specially prepared. So you can't produce a matte finish coin without those two things happening. One can't be produced by accident or error.
So it's unlikely that a coin with matte finish was produced by mistake, understood. There are coins deliberately made with a different finish, say the 1994 and 1997 Nickel for instance. Those are recorded as such. So check out these two 2015 cents. I have seen it written that from 2005-2010 there were "Satin" finish cents minted. Nothing about 2015. Am I missing something? Is it common to find any coins with two different finishes, from same year and Mint, that are not a deliberate difference? Thanks all who responded. ✌
There is nothing about 2015 because the satin finish Mint Sets (and only the Mint Sets had the satin finish) were discontinued (no longer made) after 2010, or before 2005. Are you missing something ? Yeah, you're not realizing that it is completely normal for the finish on coins to look a little different from one to the other because of die wear, and what happens to different coins after they are released into circulation. Those 2 coins you posted are completely normal.
