What year is my Lincoln Head Cent? 1 1

[Rollingmyown]

This is a call out to Sandon, powermad5000, and coinbuf. As you gentlemen have recently taken the time to answer my cionage questions.

At first glance I thought this was a 1910-S Lincoln Head Cent. Only 6mil made. Not Bzzzzzz wrong. It appears to be a 1940-S Cent. But where is the rest of the "4" in "1940" and why such a separation between the 9 and 4?  I'm willing to entertain any thoughts on pocket damage. But common "cents" tells me it's not very likely only the left half of this numeral 4 in 1940 was worn down and removed by friction or circulating. And not have damaged or worn down the rest of 1940 or the "S".  Thanks in advance. Possibly just a worn out or unpolished dirty die?  And trust me, i know how I am. I've had to live with me longer than anyone has....

[Sandon]

    This appears to be a 1940-S that someone deliberately altered by attempting to scrape off parts of the "4" so that it would appear to be a more valuable, semi-key 1910-S. The style of the date numerals and mintmark are wrong for a 1910-S and correspond to those of a 1940-S. I can't tell whether there is a "VDB" at the truncation of the bust beneath Lincoln's shoulder (not added until 1918), but the appearance of the initials would be additional proof.  1944-D cents have frequently been altered in this manner to appear as "1914-D"s, but this is the first time that I've seen a 1940-S altered in this manner.  

[Coinbuf]

The space between the 9 and what appears to be a 1 numerals is wrong and I would agree that from this photo it would appear that the 4 was altered to resemble a 1.   However, between the glare from your light source right over the date and the photo being slightly out of focus I cannot determine if there are visible marks from such a surface manipulation.   Can you provide a photo of the date that is not so harshly lit and a bit more in focus?

[J P M]

The small picture sure makes the 4 stand out more.

[Greenstang]

Reminds me of the altered 1944D cents made to look like a 1914 by altering the 4.

[Rollingmyown]

Look gentlemen, as I've stated I'm not looking for that million dollar penny. I'm just a life long  "history buff" who has recently been drawn into your addictive hobby of collecting and admiring the beauty and historical value of coin collecting. And I really do appreciate the little bit of knowledge that I have gained just in last several weeks talking to you all on this forum. It is a great learning platform you have. For ALL of us.

I'm starting to wish I would have just rolled up this 5yrs worth of pocket change with a blindfold on. Ect. Lol. Hey look, there are alot worse habits and or addictions than my new coin habit. Trust me on that.  

I agree in that this 1940-S lincoln head cent seems to be obviously altered to appear like a 1910-S series. I have spent more than a healthy amount of time serching images on the internet today to try find a similar image of a fake or altered 1940-S coin. Not no avail. I'm attaching photos as you requested. But I'm less of a photographer than I am a coin man so bear with me. I can't seem to find the VDB that you referred to that would put this coin in the post 1918 category. There is àn obvious cut or indention on and on the right hand side of the "4"/ fake "1" that looks like an attempt to remove the part of the 4 numeral that would normally extend to the right side or the 4. Ect. They did on okay or good job of smashing away the left side of the "4" as I can't see any type of scraping and or scuffs or markings on it. It's like they pressed the left side of the "4" down into the field or face of the coin. 

I'm not going to look at another coin this weekend . I'm taking a break from my new hobby. Because the grass needs mowed! Thank you again, fellas!   Oh, also, I have attatch a photo of a nice 1940-S coin I've been using for a reference. 

Rollingmyown.     Coins, that is... 

Edited June 14 by Rollingmyown

[Sandon]

On 6/14/2024 at 5:24 PM, Rollingmyown said:

I can't seem to find the VDB that you referred to that would put this coin in the post 1918 category.

    The initials are visible on the circled area of this 1939 cent:

   If you can't see the initials on your coin, whoever altered the coin likely scraped them off as well, as the original date on your coin clearly wasn't 1910.

[powermad5000]

I agree the spacing of the numerals would be terribly far off for the posted cent to be a 1910 S. I actually can see a mark to the right of the "4" where whoever altered the date had to grind off that little tail of the 4 on the right side and screwed up. I can see a little pit where the grinding tool went too deep.

I also see faint remnants of the 4 as the alteration did not fully get the numeral level with the surface of the field as I think the person doing this alteration knew if they tried to make it level with the surface of the clean field, that there would be unavoidable grind marks left behind which would not be able to be subsequently hidden so they just ground down the 4 as close as they could without trying to make it perfectly level.

If they were astute enough, they would have altered the area noted by Sandon and possibly ground down that whole slant of the detail at the bottom of Abe's bust. If you look with some magnification if they did alter the VDB as well, you can magnify that area and look for small grinding marks along that whole area too. We don't have the coin in hand to be able to assess that kind of a detail, but you do. Once you grind the original surface it will leave lines. If you try to polish out those lines, it will leave polishing lines. Either way, these kinds of alterations leave some evidence of the alteration, albeit someone highly skilled and having superior equipment would be able to disguise their work so only the best trained eye would be able to detect it.