1960 Lincoln Memorial Cent - Fake?

That is a fake. Wow. I've seen everything now. What's even the point? It's like that fake of the 2004-D Kneelboat nickel that surfaced a few years ago.

Yes, the first question would be "Why"?

Odd texture and date. The lips seem to have some doubling? Good eye catching that one.

Interesting.

I am probably going to go down in flames here—differing with folks who know way more than I do—but I am thinking the same as Eligius.

Wouldn't that fin on the reverse rim suggest striking, as well as the sharp lines where the devices meet the fields?

I am envisioning proof cents and nickels liberated from lower value proof sets of that era during times of high silver prices.

The wood grain effect also seems to counter the cast fake hypothesis.

There are lines that appear to be roller lines or wood grain. Can someone create a mold that would be fine enough to capture roller lines, and then obtain that level of detail on the cast product? Or introduce a molten alloy to obtain striping like wood grain? Kind of like the question of how could a supposed "error" be created from the minting process, I have the same question about how this could be explained by casting.

Authentic or not, I have yet to see a cast fake posted on here that could come close to achieving this level of detail and sharpness.

Once upon a time, I could have walked down a hall and picked the brain of metallurgists who studied castings, but I have no such colleagues anymore.

Edited for spelling.

I don't thing it's a proof, but I also don't think it's fake. Something has happened to the surfaces of this coin that is creating the odd appearance. The step weakness on the reverse would indicate a business strike and the FG seems to be thin on normal coins of this type, so something that has eaten at the surface would just exaggerate that as well as thinning details like the date. You can still see some of the master die doubling on the lower curl of the 6. Maybe corroded, naturally or artificially, then whizzed?