Unique error?

I have this 1972 cent that, at first glance, looks like a penny that has been used and abused. But! After closer inspection, it seems that what I thought was just damage, may actually be a mint error!! Please take alook at the area in question which is on the obverse next to and below the year near the rim. It appears to have a bit of the memorial from the reverse side of a penny struck on it!!! When you look at the actual reverse of this coin; its memorial building is not showing any error. What do y'all think!? Also as always lol I also see doubling on the motto, even on rim! Any expert advice would be much appreciated!!

 

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I'm no expert but I can tell you that coin is damaged it is not a mint error. JMO
Dave

 

But the 'damage' on the obverse is clearly a partial stamp of the picture on the reverse! How else could that happen right? If you look at the lines and designs, you can see that its the same as the building on the back of the penny ☺️☺️☺️ which would have to take place at mint right? Or no

 

It got smashed by another coin, the design elements are incused, not relief.

 

Not relief?

 

The design elements are incused, sunk into the surface in a mirror image, as opposed to being in relief, raised above the surface like on a normal coin. This is an indicator that the design elements came from another coin being smashed against yours, after it left the mint.

 

Vice job coin (Google it)

 

Yes.. Someone pressed the Reverse side of another Cent to that small area. It is not a Mint Error.

 

Wrap 2 coins in a rag, place in a bench vise and tighten. Copper is soft and the design is transferred from one coin to another. It's damaged.

 

Why in the world would some one do that!? Is it intentional as to try and make a coin look valuable, do people do that? Our is it some one just messing around? Glad you all are here because I have learned so much from yalls answers! I am able to research your answers and learn more stuff about variety errors and PMD that otherwise I wouldn't have known existed. Thank you!!❤️

 

Looks like pliers to me.

 

People do this to try and con others into thinking that these are error coin worth lots of money. Not all coins with damage happen for this reason people use coins for all kinds of different things. A screwdriver comes to mind , and the coin gets a funky mark on it, and somebody finds the coin in their change, thinking that it is an error. People on the scamming side of life come up with many different ways to try and fake an error to get your your cash. !! Dillan

 

@Brittany Coe Other than all of the above,

If you notice the rim edge of that one area is squished and pushed out but is inconsistent on both sides.

If this was during the minting process the Collar keeps the cent nice and round. If you remove the collar then the cent gets squished out all around it.

If the ejection is not 100% then normally it gets squished a bit in a circular fashion both top and bottom.

Now to answer the question of "why would someone do this"
Don't reject why someone would do this. Accept what damage is and how it is unlimited in nature.

For instance. In my old jeweler type days, using my jewelers vice I stopped using copper blanks (blank sheets of copper) and started using cents. Copper is used because it is nice and soft. Why ? (a) cents are much cheaper than copper blanks, (b) it's still worth money after use versus just being scrap, and (c) cents are essentially free and readily available .. to use as a buffer when holding items in the vice (this is before they started making all those neat soft, grippy vice jaws covers). I would simply close the vice with the cents when not using them. So I would plenty of times damage cents (and yes, quarters too), and they actually at times would get 2 squished at various overlap amount depending upon the item at hand and how inconsistently unflat it's surface was.

So I in essence unknowingly at the time would churn out a bunch of cent errors !!
I should have just basement slabbed those and sold them off as errors.

This is why it's important to understand the minting process.
And realize when something CANNOT happen during the minting process.

Errors are limited
Damage is UNlimited by an unlimited number of methods. Don't discount damage just because you can't think, or believe why someone would do it.

I laugh all the time when I see cents with incused designs on them especially if it's from another denomination.

used to buy stuff like this for putting over the steel vice jaws ==> https://www.riogrande.com/product/copper-6-x-12-sheet-dead-soft/132114gp
but cents are cheaper, more readily available at an instant notice and are still worth a cent when damaged. You can even just glue them on the vice jaw.



hey, look at this thread and ask yourself "why?" ==> https://www.cointalk.com/threads/1799-coppers-turned-into-gears-valueless-and-priceless.323422/

don't forget Hobo coinage. Why?
Making coins into Buttons, jewelry, entombing in plastic .. Why ?
putting on train rails .. or those novelty elongation machines ... why?

..and the answer is .. because someone wanted to do it !!

 

so true, I totally agree, I guess iI was being bias towards the fact some one did it with ill intent. I didn't stop to think about 'why' when Im on ETSY.com, and see all of those coins made into jewelry!! Lololol so Yes, I see what you mean.
That's so neat you were a jeweler..... Mind if I upload a picture of a very special ring to see if you could answer a couple questions about the gems set in the ring?

 

I’ve never figured out why people deliberately damage coins. Maybe they think a sucker will buy it. Mostly boredom and a destructive nature would be my ballpark guess.

 

spend it

 

How do you post coin errors?

 

Welcome to Cointalk
Just hit the button that shows post in error form should be on top right.
Dave

 

I thought the guys didn't get a chemistry set and the gals missed getting a Barbie doll at Christmas and birthdays.

 

This is my 1955 double struck Lincoln cent. I made it with a vice, it was a joke. Making one is actually not that hard.

https://www.cointalk.com/threads/here-is-my-1955-double-struck-lincoln-cent.315770/