My 11 year old son has recently taken up collecting what he considers "old" coins, and really enjoys it. He found this penny with Liberty spelled "LIBERYY", and the date is actually damaged? Any ideas on this coin?
Like Fred and Burton said, it is damage. The "T" took a hit very close to the middle of the crossbar causing the deformation. Over the years, several Lincoln cents have been posted here (not necessarily the same date as yours) with similar damage. Chris
It is an error I have one too but the top part of the T kinda shows in the background and then Y on top following another Y, wtg to your son hope you didn't spend it.
It's not an error. An error happens at the mint. If this happened at the mint the die that produced this coin would have to have a lettering mistake on it, hundreds of thousands of other coins with this "error" would have been produced. Post #4 from a year and a half ago was written by one of the most respected coin error experts in the world. (Fred Weinstein) And he said it's not an error.
Impossible to be an error. Nothing in the minting process can cause this. As was previously explained, it's damaged. The crossbar in the T took a hit. Copper is soft and the metal moved forming what looks like a Y.
Just Damage. Not an error. Here is a thread I created on the subject - https://www.cointalk.com/threads/the-liberyy-cent-enigma.309022/
Sorry Fred it was early in the morning. In my head I said Weinberg. And that's what typed out. Bad time to be a Weinstein.
I have a Lincoln penny from 1980 with a P where are R goes in liberty (LIBE PY) and there is a space like I illustrated up top
Welcome to CT. Please start a new thread and post full size photos of both sides so we can tell you what caused this.
Welcome... Most likely damage, but photos or it's useless to speculate. AND please don't hijack an old thread - it's frowned on here. Start your own with photos. Clear, cropped, in focus, full coin PLUS any detail shots
As they said, probably damage but we need photos to verify. We’ve seen this before. Copper is soft and one hit can move the metal.