Strange Lincoln

rpcoletrane

I recently aquired a bag of Lincoln cents, in which I found a semi-key, 1926 S. The coin is in G-VG shape overall. The strange part is, that when looking at the reverse, I can see the outline of Lincoln like it is incuse on the reverse, not very detailed, just an outline pushed into the reverse. My question is, how did this happen and is it valuable?

ArizonaJack

any known die clashes for the 26-S ?

jessewvu

this post is useless without pictures...

rpcoletrane

Not sure, but this is like pushed into the reverse, not just an outline, the entire bust of Lincoln pushed into the reverse.

rpcoletrane

I've tried pics and scans, but it doesn't show up.

errormaven

It's probably indirect, progressive design transfer -- a form of die deterioration. A vague, incuse image of Lincoln's bust gets transferred to the reverse die through the intermediary of hundreds of thousands of planchets. It's quite common.