1951 S Lincoln Wheat Penny 0

[Newbie_7]

Hello I have a 1951 S Lincoln Wheat Penny.  The top of the "S" appears to be touching the bottom of the "5" in the date.  Is this common for this date of pennies? Also, the first "1" in the date seems a little short compared to the last "1".

Edited June 17, 2022 by Newbie_7

[Coinbuf]

At that time the mintmarks were hand punched on the dies, so you will see the placements in different spots.   How many there are like this one depends on how long the die lasted in service and the number of coins it struck.   While it might be possible to figure that out I doubt very much that anyone has ever tried to.   Collectors and dealers have done the research to verify mintmark locations on the key/rare dates like the 1909-SVDB as a way to verify that a coin is real vs fake, but I'm very sure that nobody has done so for a common date like a 1951-S cent.

As to your edit question on the date, the SF mint struck just over 136,000,000 cents in 1951.   It is very understandable that over that many strikes there will be some variation in strike pressure and metal flow.   Add in 70 years of circulation and it should not really be a surprise to see minor (and even sometimes significant) variations to any coin's design/lettering elements.   As with any production facility the mint has a tolerance range for each coin type, and those tolerances can be bigger than you might expect.

Edited June 17, 2022 by Coinbuf

[Newbie_7]

Thank you for taking the time to answer my question.