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1973 penny thickness difference

DbooneDboone Posts: 4 ✭
in U.S. Coin Forum

While sifting through a new collection found a specific penny that we looked at from the side seems thickness has a great difference from one side to the other just curious if anyone ran into something like this?

Comments

  • CoinscratchCoinscratch Posts: 8,800 ✭✭✭✭✭

    When your membership is fully active in a day or two post some pictures.

  • Steven59Steven59 Posts: 8,872 ✭✭✭✭✭

    Thickness on cents vary - you need to weigh it to confirm a discrepancy in the planchet

    "When they can't find anything wrong with you, they create it!"

  • Steven59Steven59 Posts: 8,872 ✭✭✭✭✭

    @Dboone said:
    [While sifting through a new collection found a specific penny that we looked at from the side seems thickness has a great difference from one side to the other just curious if anyone ran into something like this?]

    Could also be a tilted strike. But as @Coinscratch stated you will have to post pics............

    "When they can't find anything wrong with you, they create it!"

  • rickoricko Posts: 98,724 ✭✭✭✭✭

    @Dboone .... Welcome aboard. You will be able to post pictures in a couple of days (forum protocol). In the interim, you could message some pictures to one of us and we could post/comment on them... Check the weight as well. Cheers, RickO

  • JesseKraftJesseKraft Posts: 414 ✭✭✭✭✭

    @Dboone said:
    While sifting through a new collection found a specific penny that we looked at from the side seems thickness has a great difference from one side to the other just curious if anyone ran into something like this?

    I've noticed this in the past. It has to do with metal flow during striking. I'm going to wager that your cent is thinner toward the bottom of the obverse (say 5 o'clock to 7o'clock or so) and thickens through most of the rest of the coin. Does this sound about right?

    Jesse C. Kraft, Ph.D.
    Resolute Americana Curator of American Numismatics
    American Numismatic Society
    New York City

    Member of the American Numismatic Association (ANA), British Numismatic Society (BNS), New York Numismatic Club (NYNC), Early American Copper (EAC), the Colonial Coin Collectors Club (C4), U.S. Mexican Numismatic Association (USMNA), Liberty Seated Collectors Club (LSCC), Token and Medal Society (TAMS), and life member of the Atlantic County Numismatic Society (ACNS).
    Become a member of the American Numismatic Society!

  • MarkKelleyMarkKelley Posts: 1,892 ✭✭✭✭✭

    Vertically misaligned die.

  • DbooneDboone Posts: 4 ✭

    @JesseKraft you pretty much nailed it.my lovely iPhone isn’t cooperating with me so the pic isn’t any good. What does this mean? Save it? Get graded?

  • DbooneDboone Posts: 4 ✭


  • moursundmoursund Posts: 3,207 ✭✭✭✭✭

    that's pretty cool. Nice micrometer, good pictures. Nice legs. :wink:

    100th pint of blood donated 7/19/2022 B) . Transactions with WilliamF, Relaxn, LukeMarshal, jclovescoins, braddick, JWP, Weather11am, Fairlaneman, Dscoins, lordmarcovan, Collectorcoins, SurfinxHI, JimW. God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, that who so believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life.
  • CoinscratchCoinscratch Posts: 8,800 ✭✭✭✭✭

    I’ve got a sander that’ll fix it.

  • moursundmoursund Posts: 3,207 ✭✭✭✭✭

    @Coinscratch said:
    I’ve got a sander that’ll fix it.

    OT, but have you ever tried to sand something small, by holding it with your fingers against e.g. a belt sander, and ended up sending it across the room and/or flaying the skin from your fingers?

    Me either... :wink:

    100th pint of blood donated 7/19/2022 B) . Transactions with WilliamF, Relaxn, LukeMarshal, jclovescoins, braddick, JWP, Weather11am, Fairlaneman, Dscoins, lordmarcovan, Collectorcoins, SurfinxHI, JimW. God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, that who so believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life.
  • 291fifth291fifth Posts: 24,401 ✭✭✭✭✭

    A minor striking variation that is of no importance. Value is one cent.

    All glory is fleeting.
  • CoinscratchCoinscratch Posts: 8,800 ✭✭✭✭✭

    @moursund said:

    @Coinscratch said:
    I’ve got a sander that’ll fix it.

    OT, but have you ever tried to sand something small, by holding it with your fingers against e.g. a belt sander, and ended up sending it across the room and/or flaying the skin from your fingers?

    Me either... :wink:

    No, not me :D

  • OldhoopsterOldhoopster Posts: 2,930 ✭✭✭✭✭

    @moursund said:
    that's pretty cool. Nice micrometer, good pictures. Nice legs. :wink:

    Looks like a Vernier caliper (not a micrometer) from Harbor Freight. Inexpensive and work reasonably well for numismatic applications.

    Member of the ANA since 1982
  • IcollecteverythingIcollecteverything Posts: 1,031 ✭✭✭

    Did you ever operate a drill press in shop class while your partner held a thin piece of sheet metal in his bare hands?? :s
    He did say to go for it.

    Successful BST deals with mustangt and jesbroken. Now EVERYTHING is for sale.

  • privatecoinprivatecoin Posts: 3,455 ✭✭✭✭✭

    @291fifth said:
    A minor striking variation that is of no importance. Value is one cent.

    But melt value..... :D

    Paper money eventually returns to its intrinsic value. Zero. Voltaire. Ebay coinbowlllc

  • moursundmoursund Posts: 3,207 ✭✭✭✭✭

    @privatecoin said:

    @291fifth said:
    A minor striking variation that is of no importance. Value is one cent.

    But melt value..... :D

    Apparently if you melt a penny, the copper will get you. ;)

    100th pint of blood donated 7/19/2022 B) . Transactions with WilliamF, Relaxn, LukeMarshal, jclovescoins, braddick, JWP, Weather11am, Fairlaneman, Dscoins, lordmarcovan, Collectorcoins, SurfinxHI, JimW. God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, that who so believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life.
  • JesseKraftJesseKraft Posts: 414 ✭✭✭✭✭

    @Dboone said:
    @JesseKraft you pretty much nailed it.my lovely iPhone isn’t cooperating with me so the pic isn’t any good. What does this mean? Save it? Get graded?

    It's because of Lincoln's shoulder. Since x-amount of metal has to flow into the shoulder the moment the coin is struck, less metal is able to flow to the rim. Meanwhile, the flat fields of the sides and most of the upper portion of the cent are able to squeeze metal up into the rims. Lincoln's head also causes this but to a lesser degree than the shoulder. Lincoln is also the reason for notoriously-weak E PLURIBUS UNUM on the reverse. This was very common on Lincoln cents from the early 80s and before, the copper cents. Oddly, despite the fact that zinc is softer than copper, there is an inverse relationship when mixed—the higher the tin content, the harder the bronze (to an extent, of course...99% tin and 1% copper will not be super duper hard). I wonder if copper-plated zinc has some sort of similar affect, which caused a noticeable reduction in this phenomenon in '82 (I'm just guessing out loud, here). Or, was new machinery implemented to strike copper-coated zinc Lincoln cents that allowed for a tighter impact? Perhaps to minimize de-plating, and this led to the reduction in this phenomenon?

    Jesse C. Kraft, Ph.D.
    Resolute Americana Curator of American Numismatics
    American Numismatic Society
    New York City

    Member of the American Numismatic Association (ANA), British Numismatic Society (BNS), New York Numismatic Club (NYNC), Early American Copper (EAC), the Colonial Coin Collectors Club (C4), U.S. Mexican Numismatic Association (USMNA), Liberty Seated Collectors Club (LSCC), Token and Medal Society (TAMS), and life member of the Atlantic County Numismatic Society (ACNS).
    Become a member of the American Numismatic Society!

  • DbooneDboone Posts: 4 ✭

    So all in all I have a error coin that’s not an error and value is 1 cent?

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