1979-D penny Missing Lincoln in Memorial 1 1

[Hinkle]

Hey there everyone, came across this and Lincoln is missing. I did a close up but, the closer I take a pic, the more distorted it gets. I thought this would be interesting to share. My question,  is this over polishing die or grease filled die. Thanks 

[Just Bob]

The fact that the designer's initials are very faint leads me to believe it is over polishing.

[JT2]

i would say they should have thrown these dies out 1/2 million cents before it go to this one.

[EagleRJO]

On 5/4/2023 at 9:21 AM, Just Bob said:

The fact that the designer's initials are very faint leads me to believe it is over polishing.

Just spit balling, but would over-polishing remove the incuse image of Lincoln in the die but still leave the columns on each side?  Perhaps grease filled plus wear?

[Coinbuf]

On 5/4/2023 at 6:43 AM, EagleRJO said:

Just spit balling, but would over-polishing remove the incuse image of Lincoln in the die but still leave the columns on each side?  Perhaps grease filled plus wear?

Lincoln inside the memorial is the lowest point in the design, thus the highest point on the die.  I believe that Bob is correct, not only are the initials weak, but the lettering also looks shallow from an over polished die.

[VKurtB]

On 5/4/2023 at 7:37 AM, Hinkle said:

the closer I take a pic, the more distorted it gets.

Lots of that going on.

[EagleRJO]

On 5/4/2023 at 2:31 PM, Coinbuf said:

Lincoln inside the memorial is the lowest point in the design, thus the highest point on the die.  I believe that Bob is correct, not only are the initials weak, but the lettering also looks shallow from an over polished die.

Is the Lincoln's image incuse on the coin and projecting out on the die, in which case I could buy die polishing? It looked like the Lincoln's image as well as the adjacent columns were both projecting out on the coin.

[Coinbuf]

On 5/4/2023 at 6:17 PM, EagleRJO said:

Is the Lincoln's image incuse on the coin and projecting out on the die, in which case I could buy die polishing? It looked like the Lincoln's image as well as the adjacent columns were both projecting out on the coin.

No not incuse, but the relief of little Lincoln is lower than the columns so it is conceivable that detail could be lost due to over polishing.   The photos are not sufficient but I cannot rule out the possibility of alteration also.

[powermad5000]

I think it is a combination of @Just Bob's point and @JT2's point. Not only over polished to get the absolute most out of the die, but also so overused that the finer details of the die in such a late stage were turning to mush. The OP's original pic of the reverse is blurry, but it also looks like the steps of the memorial suffered the same. Even Lincoln on the obverse does not look very "sharp" (Lincoln at the time was a very sharp dressed man), leaning me towards overused dies.

Also, being Lincoln inside the pillars is very small in the overall image, I have seen many Memorial Cents with varying degrees of the "strength" of Lincoln between the pillars.