2005 Proof Set penny error?

bbrebelz

Hello,
I am new to the coin collecting world. About 8 months ago I started out just buying proof sets for my daughter from her birth year to present. Of course I caught the bug and I've been buying a few other coins. I've been reading the forums and they are very informative.
Now my question. I received my 2005 Proof Set a few weeks ago. I finally opened it to take a peek and noticed something strange about the penny. When I look at the date at an angle, half of the second zero in 2005 disappears and all of the five disappears. Also, on the reverse, there is a raised area leading from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial towards the N and T in "CENT". It forks off half way. One line leads to the top of the N. The other leads to the left top of the T and goes all the way through it and stops just under the top left of the T.
I don't a have digital camera to take pictures. I've heard of the disappearing numbers before. I have a 2003 Silver Proof Set with the same fault. But I haven't heard of the markings on the reverse. It is visible with the naked eye and you can see it clearly with a 10x magnifying glass. Have any of you seen or heard of this particular marking on the penny? I know the proofs usually have a smooth surface and it seems strange looking to me.
Any suggestions on what I should do with it, if anything, would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks.

Cam40

that sounds cool.
the missing numbers in the date is attributed to grease and or dirt and grime in that area of the die.
cool sorta error for a proof coin.
and the raised areas on the reverse sound like a strike from a cracked reverse die.
again, very cool for a proof coin to have those errors.
not sure what premium but its gotta be something more than the normal set..

MajorDuty

Not worth a premium. I'll trade you one of my 2005 sets for it to bail you out. *wink, wink*

bbrebelz

So what do I do with it? Do I put the set aside and sit on it for 20 years? Do I break the set and send the penny in to have it certified? Do I go ahead and have the whole set certified? Like I said, this is all new to me. Do you think this is one of a kind, or are there millions out there like this one?

Thanks for the offer Major, but I think I'll hold on to this one.

Wekar

First, Welcome to the boards.


I'm still pretty new to this too, but I have lots of free advice to give
as Cam40 said, the 'disappearing 0' is due to die grease, I have a few 2003 sets like that too, they got a lot of hype on eBay sales, but didn't translate into much of a price increase then and I don't read anything about them anymore. This doesn't seem to be a type of error anyone pays a premium for.

The "mark" you talk about could be a die break. With a loupe, let us know a little more... with a loupe, is the mark raised? or is it a scratch? pictures would really help, since you don't have a digicam, do you maybe have access to a scanner at work? Either way, die breaks on proof coins don't seem to command much of a premium, at least not that I've ever seen. Some people do like them, but I don't think they pay much extra for them. Unless you read somewhere that this particular error is 'hot' and selling for quite a bit, I would say it's definitely NOT worth sending in for grading to any service, you should enjoy it in the US Mint holder it's already in. It's still a cool find, but you can enjoy it just as much where it's at now.