1943 Lincoln Steel Cent .... Grade Opinion and ? Clash or Dropped Letter

Crazy4Coins

Found this searching through a unc roll. The only hit, mark, tick or scuff on the coin is just above 5:00 on the obverse. The lines above the date are from die polish. The line across the shoulder is a thin die crack. Curious what other feel this will grade. I see it as a nice 67.

Also, there appears to be something on the right shoulder that looks like an underlined "S". Looking for some opinions on this. Could it be a clash, or maybe some other striking related issue?

BustHalfBrian

Not seeing any signs of an 'S', but closer pics of that area would help.

And I only see a nick at 5 o'clock, but that area is in a shadow.

lkeigwin

Nice Lincoln. Great find. Probably worth grading.

I see the underlined S. But this happens all the time with our cognitive skills. We see something and make it out to be something we recognize.

It doesn't look like a dropped letter or clashing to me, nor a strike through. Usually that's an area where planchet flaws persist. But the shoulder is pretty clean and well struck.

Sorry I'm not helping.
Lance.

coinbuf

I too see the S you asked about but have no idea as to what it is, you have the coin can you run something soft but pointed like a rose thorn lightly across that to see if ti feels raised? As for grade I see a strong 66 shot 67.

MsMorrisine

Using zoom, I see a nearly closed top loop 3 that is underlined.

Dropped letters are from packed Crud in a die falling out & getting struck through. This "3" or "S" takes no shape of any feature on the die.

Doubt it is a clash as I see no other signs of clashing and that point is one of the lower points in the die.

If it is raised like it looks that would mean an indention into the die. "unknown die aberration????"

It's so small and uninteresting that there is no premium.

It does have what looks like a die crack nearby, and there is that light die polish near the chin. Then there is that other area near the eye.

I love how close to flat the reverse fields are. Like a pool.

Shamika

MS67

blacksmoke

I think I'm gonna have to go with a 65. The strike of abe is real nice as is the wheat and the fields but virtually all the lettering is pretty rough. Getting a good strike on the finer details like the lettering, on a steel planchet must have been a crap shoot. I have a 43 just like this one and mine pretty much has the same die cracks and rough lettering but the fields and abe look real nice. I wish I could get a pic of mine up to compare. It's buried somewhere in my closet at the moment.

lostincoins

here is an enlargement of the area

ricko

Nice cent.... I see the die crack, but cannot determine anything about the anomaly on the shoulder.... Cheers, RickO

lkeigwin

MS67 wouldn't surprise me.
Lance.

blacksmoke

Here's mine. Not quite as nice as yours. Has similar die cracking. The lettering is the same in the respect of being rough in places. Steel sure doesn't conform as well as copper.

[URL=http://s1094.photobucket.com/user/blacksmoke1994/media/DSCN1684_zpsf35d448f.jpg.html][/URL]

[URL=http://s1094.photobucket.com/user/blacksmoke1994/media/DSCN1687_zpsdb97b8c0.jpg.html][/URL]