43 steel cent question

[bsshog40]

I know that a lot of these things have been re-processed and all. Wel;l I was looking at the lincolns I got in my album today and noticed this. The 4 is almost gone, like it was very weakly struck. What do ya'll think. Weak strike? Processed coin with a flaw? I don't know!

[construct]

It looks like a partially grease-filled die to me, but I haven't spent a lot of time looking at steel cents.

[bsshog40]

[JKK]

I have a lot of these (including a set of MS-65+ beauts) and I haven't seen that die issue on any of them yet. Of course, a lot by my standards is several dozen, not really a representative sample--but I did recently grade them all so I spent some time with each one. I don't notice any reason to think it was altered datewise, so the contaminated die explanation probably makes the most sense. The rest of the date is obviously strong, so it's hard to imagine it being a weak strike. The mm is not very prominent on most of my 43-S examples, so that isn't atypical.

[bsshog40]

Thanks ya'll. It had me curious. So I'm presuming this is an original cent and not a reprocessed one also huh?

[CathyDad-migration]

If the only issue is the "4" in the date, I have to agree completely with the filled die explanation, the rest of the strike seems very strong. My best guess on determining if the coin has been reworked would be to take a good look under enough magnification to see if any of what appear to be "bumps" or "spots" on your coin are raised. Since the color is so bright, if it were a replating of an original, that would be an indicator. The original strips were zinc plated prior to being punched, so I would imagine that the striking process would leave the fields of the coin nicely level from the striking process.

 

I finished my 10th series of Sutent today. Tumor still shrinking.

[JKK]

I'm not expert enough to say whether it might have been reprocessed. I have one that I'm very sure is reprocessed, and it looks ridiculously obvious. Yours doesn't look like mine, which looks sort of like it was lightly plated with aluminum or zinc, and wouldn't fool anyone. That's really the only firm knowledge basis I have thus far.

[bsshog40]

Thanks for the info guys. I think these are original. They look the norm. The only issue is the 4 so I guess the grease filled die would explain it. thanks again!

[XpipedreamR]

No, yours isn't reprocessed. Your pics are good enough to show the details of the surface, even die polish, etc. You can see that it's a struck surface. The reprocessed ones are just smooth, not coinlike at all.

[bsshog40]

No, yours isn't reprocessed. Your pics are good enough to show the details of the surface, even die polish, etc. You can see that it's a struck surface. The reprocessed ones are just smooth, not coinlike at all.

 

Thank ya!!!

[Shamika-migration]

 

Coin looks perfectly original. And yes, this is a grease filled die. I've seen another steel cent with the missing 4 before.

[Coin]

I got about two dozen of 43's (P,D,S) with the same problem on different numerals and even weak mint marks . I'm leaning towards filled die issues with the dies getting gunk in them from striking like grease , zinc , etc......still looking for bits of fallen/dropped numbers and letters to show up , but none on any zincolns in my hoard so far . The most prevalant missing numeral in my stack is the bottom of the 3 .....most missing mint mark pieces - the bottom of the 'S'.

 

Yours is attracted to a magnet , yes?

[bsshog40]

 

Yours is attracted to a magnet , yes?

 

Very attracted! thanks for your info!