What has happened here?

This looks for sure different just wondered what you all thought it could be? Its a 1985. Hopefully you can tell from the pics whats going on. And the edges aren't rounded either. And on FG the G looks thicker towards the top.

 

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just wear

 

Thats why there is extra metal going over the tops of the letters? I don't see that kind of "wear" often.

 

The rims, which have been 'pinched', or
rolled, and the rolling over the thin rim
into the thicker rim you see, with the
extra metal between the rims and the lettering,
is part of the rim damage.

 

Alright and just wondered would that be a strike through on the reverse under the seconed S in States? It looks like ot cause it goes through the letter but hasn't scratched the letters if that makes sense almost like it runs underneath them.

 

It's just a scratch. Whenever you have a coin that has seen a "tough life" like this one, you can be pretty confident that anything that looks like a struck through is due to Post Mint Damage

 

Thanks everyone for the input.

 

Extra metal inside the rim is not wear! It looks like a damaged die to me, probably nearing the end of its useable life. The die was probably withdrawn from use shortly thereafter. Note how the extra metal starts and stops between the S-T-A-T. The die is very weak right there at the rim where a thin raised fin of metal is all that separates the body of the letter from the rim. Those fins are easily broken. Metal flowing outward against the fin puts pressure on it. Could be the result of a slight misalignment of dies resulting in upper die impacting the edge of the collar... or possibly the feed-extraction arms could have been bashing the edge of the lower die due to maladjustment. We see this kind of thing quite a lot on our dies. I've got numerous sets of obsolete dies with the fin between the lettering and the rim broken out at the tops of the letters simply from the outward force of the metal.

 

I was thinking it was some kind of late die state issue to. Thanks for the reassurance, i held onto this coin still just because it looks different and the first one I've ever came across like this. I'm guessing it doesn't add much if any value to it? Either way I'll be keeping it.

 

I have no idea of the value of such things... but it's very interesting from the minting-process side. I have never seen such a late die-state piece from the post-1982 zinkie period of the Lincoln Penny. I had been under the impression that the copper-plated zinc blanks were so much softer than the old copper alloy that die-wear would essentially be eliminated. But clearly, based on this example, they continued to have die wear problems! For this reason alone I would consider it a collector's piece. If only it hadn't also had so much circulation wear as well!

 

It's not a late die state -
just rim smashing on a circulated coin.

 

Notice how all of the devices are spread. Copper is a relatively soft metal. Repeated impacts will cause the metal to "smash and spread out". I have heard this referred to a "washing machine" coin, where the coin is continually tumbled resulting in numerous small impacts. I've also noticed a similar effect on clad quarters that have worn reeding. This is likely due to numerous impacts in coin laundry, vending, or slot machines. As Mr. Weinberg has said, it is not a mint error.

It is kind of cool if you think about how many small impacts it would have taken to cause this much wear and spreading

 

Sorry but I must disagree Oldhoopster! The problem with this example is that it does have a lot of wear on it, so in order to prove my point I dug out a bag of zinc cents and went looking for a similar example that was in better condition in order to show that it is, in fact, a die-state issue. It did not take me very long! Here is a 1986 cent showing a very strong ridge inside the rim at top-obverse. Note that the letters are not distorted. Clearly this is the result of a groove worn in the die.

These groove appear to be quite common among the early zinc pennies of the 1980s. Whatever caused the groove (several possibilities) was clearly NOT related to the lettering.

Here is another example, from 2004 of the same sort of effect.

but this time, note that the raised line is perfectly aligned with the tops of the letters, right where the greatest outward force of metal flow will impinge against the raised fin separating letters from rim.

Finally, here is the reverse of that same near-mint 2004 cent.

and you can clearly see the line stop and start between the letters, just as it did on the example initially shown on this thread. With all due respect to the people who think it's coin-wear, this example is clearly NOT wear since it is a new cent, and it shows most of the same features as the example we're discussing.

As a professional minter, I work with coin dies every single day. I see every imaginable error or problem. Die-state is a huge issue for us... we've had dies destroyed after less than 100 strikes, or last for over 20,000 strikes. We've seen every type of clash and brockage and die-scarring. This type of wear that takes place out towards the edge of the design and particularly on the outside of the lettering ring is extremely common. It's one of the primary things we have to take into account when designing a new piece.

 

The two coins just posted (1986 and 2004) have
nothing to do with the original 1985 cent.

 

Plus 1. The effect you show is common and has been posted here before.

 

Alright well i am currently looking through a box and i came across this.. A 1969 D with the same thing happening and its in far better shape than the first one i posted. Same thing then?

 

Now THAT one I can see as being a little rollover curl from bashing... it's ragged and discontinuous.

 

They, both are circulation wear.

 

I agree that the ridge through the letters on 1986 and 2004 that you posted are are due to worn dies. However, 1985 cent in the OP is NOT due to worn dies. It is due to a multitude of small impacts on a soft metal.

Worn dies will not show the type of flattening on the letters, date and devices. Impacts will flatten the devices. Impacts along rim can raise the edge and roll over (spooning coins to make rims comes to mind). I don't disagree that a rolled fin from a worn or misaligned die can show the same effect but it doesn't explain the wear, dings and flattening

 

Hmmm.... I'm going to take a couple hundred near-mint post 1982 zinc cents and put them in a dry tumbler just with no other media and see if they will make this kind of raised inner rim.