1963, Lincoln Cent, Obverse Is Very Raised

good die strike?

i keep all my pretty 60's

The steps on the reverse of early 1960s cents rarely has anything to do with die state. More so than not if they are not sharp all the way across it simply means the coin was not hammered. Most 1960s cents do not have complete raised steps all the way across.

Regarding the 'raised' design, the bust of Lincoln looks MUCH different on cents from the 1960s than it looks now. If you are comparing a much more modern cent to a 19603 cent, it stands to reason why you would be asking about the difference in the design you noticed.

Actually there have been close to 2 dozen different obverse design changes since the Lincoln Cent came around 100 years ago. The reverse has gone though nearly as many different changes.