1982 over 1981? 0

[Ratzie33]

I may have found a 1982 over 1981. The coin is completely free of damage and there is what looks like a two flattening the one... any help? The metal is raised up off of the coin over the one. The “2” also has a fan tail.

[Ratzie33]

[Just Bob]

Welcome to the forum.

I am not sure how you saw a "2" there, but that is just damage to the "1" that makes it look different.

The mint does not punch the numerals of the date into the working die any more, as they did in the 18th and 19th centuries. When the Lincoln cent was introduced in 1909, the mint began engraving the last two digits of the date into the master die, which means that every working hub for that year, and thus every working die, has the same,  identical date. ( In the mid 1980s, they started putting the full date on the galvano, from which the master hub was made.) In other words, if your coin had an overdate, every 1981 cent would have the same overdate, since they were all struck from dies that were created from one master die, which had the date already on it. And, even if more than one master die was made and used that year, there would still be millions of coins that looked like yours. Since neither of those is the case, your coin can not be an overdate.

Edited September 10, 2019 by Just Bob