What's up with this Lincoln?

MrLee

I'm sure it's something common but does anyone know what causes the inner rim distortion on this '88 Lincoln? It starts near the date, widens at the top and continues just past Liberty. The scan doesn't show it very well but the motto almost disappears into it.

Lee

coppercoins

I can't tell you what it "is", but I can tell you it's extremely common on Lincolns dated about 1984 through 1992. I have seen examples of that hundreds of times and have never really questioned what happened.