1944 Lincoln Cent Thick Planchet 66.3 Grams

One can do the maths.

Let's assume for starters that the object is actually still made of regualr coinage bronze. Density = mass / volume. Therefore volume = mass / density. The volume of a piece of bronze weighing 66 grams is therefore 66 / 8.9 = 7.42 cubic centimetres.

The volume a cylinder = pi x radius^2 x height. The height of a cylinder of known volume is therefore = volume / (pi x radius^2).

A Lincoln Cent has a radius of 0.925 cm. This now gives us a height of our postulated cylinder = 7.42 / (3.14159 x 0.925^2) = 2.76 cm, or just over one inch thick. I don't think that would comfortably fit inside a standard slab.

That is one thick cent.

I've seen a number of 1944 cents struck on thick planchets that weigh around 4.2 grams. So, the auction coin fits well within that sample. Similarly heavy Lincoln cents occur in other years.

You can see on the reverse where the excess metal was forced past the collar and into a Rim Fin. Looks like it got rolled over onto the rim.

What do you guys make of the hieroglyphics from K3-4 obverse, and that matching pair of grooves at K1 reverse? PMD? Or was the coin struck through feeder fingers or another mechanism? It's easy to believe that moving parts could get jammed in the striking area if the planchet is 140% the correct size.

Very interesting!

To my mind, the more important question is: why was coin slabbed with the weight in "grains" in the first place, when most people in the coin biz seem to be comfortable using grams? I assume PCGS doesn't routinely use grains here, otherwise everyone at Great Collections would have known this.

Or is this a case of "the submitter put 'grains' on the submission form, so that's what PCGS used on the label"?

Is it really worth.........wait for it....


Hammered at $850.....w/BP....$ 956.25.......

Guess I better start weighing all my LWCs