On the words of United States of the words look like they are worn off like you can't tell what letters they are very well
This (letters worn away) is from die wear and very common. The uglies look like they have been in a fire but this is likely environmental damage, like a few I found under the seat of my truck a couple of days ago. There also appears to be zinc bleeding going on also.
The worn letters are from a grease filled die. Otherwise, normal wear and tear on a zinc penny or cent, depending which term one prefers.
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I believe they are just weakly struck. I would be willing to say that most late '80s early '90s show that same weakness. When the mint started striking these plated coins using the higher relief dies, there were a great deal of plating issues from what I believe can be attributed to the different expansion rates of the two metals. I think they turned down the pressure to alleviate some of those issues. The latest issued Lincolns are of a lower relief.
Keep Looking Sheila as you're bound to find something. There are many common error's out there that are the result of the multi-billion coin manufacturing processes but there also some pretty and not quite so common, cool error's. The trick here is that, most folks simply do not "LOOK" at their pocket change and once they DO start looking, they notice all the little anomalies which can occur which are really quite common. However, unless you look at 10,000 coins, you'll never find anything.
I can attest to that, there has only been a handful of coins I have found in my pocket change that was worth keeping and that's over a period of 20 plus years. I have the fortune of working with quite a bit of coin and I come across a few things here and there at work but roll searching is the best way to find errors in my experience, I have probably looked at over 10 k dollars in cents looking for errors and still its hard to find a good one. Keep searching though fortune smiles on the persistant and patient.
Ditto on the above two posts. I just completed a page of 20 Lincoln Cent doubled dies (Memorials), the ones in the bay with the statue. Mostly 2002-06. Now to try and attribute them all....plenty of die cracks, die breaks out there also. They are considered minor but once I got the bug I was addicted. They are a lot of fun.
