What is going on with this coin? ... new at this, Thanks for any help! 1 1

[bonesknows]

I'm new at coin hunting and found this amongst my pocket change. What causes this to happen to a coin? Is damage from after leaving the mint?

[Greenstang]

Yes, it is damage that occurred after the coin was struck.    
Doesn’t really matter what caused it, damage is damage.

[Coinbuf]

Welcome to the forum and thanks for the excellent photos, so much better than the norm.   Agree that this is simple post mint damage (PMD), heat, acid, even dried glue could all be possible reasons for how your cent looks.

[Henri Charriere]

🐓:  But if bonesknows, why does he ask?

Q.A.:  ... don't know... a 2d opinion, perhaps?  Lot of very knowledgeable people 'round here.  

[powermad5000]

Hello and welcome to the forum!

Without having the coin in hand, it could be hard to tell from the photos (which I also agree are excellent for a first post!) what caused the condition on this cent. It could be acid etched, a glue or epoxy sitting on the surface, it could have been done with a tool such as a Dremel or an engraving tool (there are some artistic people out there that practice on coins or intentionally change them to love tokens or such), it could have been run over by a vehicle in a parking lot, or it could have been face up in a strange environment noticing the condition of the coin on the reverse seems environmentally damaged as well.

There is nothing in the mint process that would produce a coin that looks like this so your initial assessment of damage was spot on!  

[J P M]

It looks psychedelic man, Cool like it's from the 70's   I bet if you put it in some acetone a lot of that junk will come off but the coin is not worth the time to do anything with it. 

[VKurtB]

It may be frustrating to hear that it doesn’t matter, but it truly doesn’t matter. 

[Mike Meenderink]

The coin was heated in a kiln or oven obverse up. Zinc melts just before copper does so the zinc is molten, and the copper is semi molten. This is what you get. The reverse is not as wrinkled since it was sitting on the flat surface where the temperature is slightly lower in the oven / kiln. Mystery solved. 1974 Lincoln cents are 95% copper 5% zinc. Cheers!

Edited Sunday at 11:21 PM by Mike Meenderink

[Just Bob]

Soak it in acetone, MEK, or lacquer thinner and post pics of the result.