Ike Error?

tlhoy

I know nothing about Ike's or error's so I hope someone can help me.
Best I could do with the picture. (shooting through the plastic!)

1976-S Ike, the mint mark looks weird and looks like it was struck so hard it pushed into the coin, bending the area around the mint mark. It's still sealed in plastic from the mint.
Error, or did some idiot damage it?
Thank you,
Glenn

XpipedreamR

Doesn't look unusual to me.

supercoin

Keep in mind that the mint marks of that era were punched into the dies by hand, so there is some variation in appearance from die to die.

I know what you mean about the indented area, I've seen it on some coins. I assume it's from the mint mark being punched into the die with more force than usual, displacing more metal than usual, and causing a little hill around the mintmark.

When the coin is struck, that little hill would form a little valley around the mintmark.

Just my theory, anyway, I'd be curious to hear a more authoritative answer. Or at least one with bigger words.

Conder101

You are correct Supercoin. When he mntmark is punched in the metal it displaces has to go somewhere. For an average punching the metal can be compressed a little both down and sideways, but for a stronger punching the metal being displaced sideways eventually meets enough resistance that it starts going UP creating the "hill" around the mintmark that you described. Sometimes the die is then lightly lapped to remove that hill, but if it isn't done then the "hill" will cause a depression around the mintmark on the struck coin.