The reverse by the initials is 'Thicker' at the rim and has a distinct line at the T in Cent. Looks like there are two levels to the die below the memorial on the East end. What is this? The straight line, does not look like a break.
I thought maybe die clash but there isnt anything that normally appears there in a Lincoln clash. Im interested to see what others think
This is a very interesting piece. I know what it looks like to me, but why on earth was it done? It looks like someone used a belt driven sander and left that mark intentionally on the die. That or there was a minor lamination on the die surface that was peeling away. A mint worker then cut away the thin material and polished the area up to put the die back into production. You can tell that what ever it was, it's a place on the die that had metal removed as it left that area of the coin with a raised surface.
Based on the photos, I'd take a guess and say Die gouge. I've seen very similar effects like this before; not on this particular coin.
Looks more like a die dent than a gouge. Possibly a die "clash" with the feed fingers there instead of a planchet. Dented the rev die through and to the right of the T making it lower (slightly raised on the coin). And it looks like they may have tried to grind down the die to remove the dent. (grind the high side bring the level down. Notice there are a lot of die polish/scratches to the left of the line, but none to the right side.
Clashed with a feeder finger makes perfect sense!! It's certainly not a die gouge as there is a very wide area that has a completely different look to the finish on the surface.
The stepped line and the upward-sloping perimeter are part of the same error -- a broad die dent. The step marks the edge of the die dent. I can't speculate on what caused the dent.
Ir looks like a die clash from Lincoln but then the Cent would have to be rotated 180 degrees. Kinda neat looking.
