Missing digit on Lincoln cent 1 1

[Tom9145]

I'm curious to know if this could be a defect when minted, or maybe the digit was worn off from a vending machine.  The back side looks ok.  Thanks for any help!

[Greenstang]

Welcome to the forum

It looks like a partially grease filled die. Notice at the top where part of the words IN GOD WE TRUST  are also missing .  

This would be considered a minor error.

[Coinbuf]

Vending machines do not and have not accepted cent coins.   

[Sandon]

   I agree that the weak letters and final date digit are likely the result of a partially "filled" die.    

On 6/26/2024 at 3:03 PM, Coinbuf said:

Vending machines do not and have not accepted cent coins.   

   Actually, I remember small machines that delivered a gumball or a small handful of nuts or pieces of candy for a cent back in the 1960s and 1970s. These "gumball machines" consisted of a clear glass container containing the product and a simple hand operated mechanical mechanism that one turned after the cent was inserted to deliver the product mounted on a metal rod and stand. They were commonly found in gas stations and the lobbies of restaurants and grocery stores in those days.

[RWB]

I have some extra numbers and letters. I'll gladly email a few to the OP so he can have a complete coin. He'll have to trim them down to size.

Edited Wednesday at 07:45 PM by RWB

[Mike Meenderink]

I would keep this coin. It would not be advised to grade it, but it is a nifty little guy. They are not super rare but...there's few enough to make these missing numeral date coins a collectable item. If you were to try to sell it eBay would work.

[Henri Charriere]

More to the point: would the OP be so kind as to elucidate how a ponderous vending machine can perform neutering so surgically precise as to leave no sign of a surgical scar much less, an abrasion on bare metal?  No one can duplicate this feat, as alleged, for all the money in the world. IMNSHO.

[Tom9145]

Thank you all for the replies.  Coinbuf, when I was a kid in the 70's, I would get a penny at the grocery store for the penny gumball machine.  Henri, you insert the coin and turn a handle which rotated the coin, which I assumed could wear off the outer edge, causing the wearing of "In God We Trust" too.  

Any guesses what it could be worth?  I

[Henri Charriere]

On 6/26/2024 at 6:31 PM, Tom9145 said:

Any guesses what it could be worth?  

What it may be worth is anyone's guess. 

I have decided it is a 1971 and unusual as to be unique.  If there were any other cents bearing this distinctive birth mark, surely they would have surfaced by now.

Accordingly, alhough the mere contemplation of offering goods for sale other than on the Coin Marketplace is expressly forbidden, a Best Offer is not.  Mine is $37 Million... Firm, and not one cent more!  🤣

 

[Mike Meenderink]

On 6/26/2024 at 3:31 PM, Tom9145 said:

Any guesses what it could be worth?

I'd give you $3.00 in cold hard cash for it. Thats + 300% face value earning you $2.99 profit. (minus 1c for your penny) LOL Thats a start.

[Sandon]

   A minor error like this sometimes is offered as a novelty for a dollar or two. It has no significant value but is an interesting find nevertheless. Contrary to what you may have seen on certain websites, major mint errors and other coins of significant value are hardly ever found among circulating coins.

[powermad5000]

Hello and welcome to the forum!

I as well would keep this coin. It appears to be a legitimate minor error for a partially filled die. Missing the date numeral is not something you see all the time, and I think this one is just dandy as a specimen. Nice find! 

Did you recover this from circulation in change for something?

[Henri Charriere]

🐓  :  To @Tom9145 :  Tell him you got it, where else, in change from an old vending machine. 🤣

 

[VKurtB]

On 6/26/2024 at 2:36 PM, Sandon said:

   I agree that the weak letters and final date digit are likely the result of a partially "filled" die.    

   Actually, I remember small machines that delivered a gumball or a small handful of nuts or pieces of candy for a cent back in the 1960s and 1970s. These "gumball machines" consisted of a clear glass container containing the product and a simple hand operated mechanical mechanism that one turned after the cent was inserted to deliver the product mounted on a metal rod and stand. They were commonly found in gas stations and the lobbies of restaurants and grocery stores in those days.

...or at the Franklin Street train station in Reading, Pennsylvania.