I work at a local convenience store and picked up a modest interest in coin collecting. Silly not to examine them, I see hundreds in a day. Mostly low grade very abused coins but I do find some interesting ones.
I recently found a Jefferson nickel with half the date missing. I'm not sure if this an error coin or if it's a damaged coin. There's no mint mark- 1971 with the 19 missing. Any ideas?
And how, in future, do I determine if it's a damaged coin or a legitimate error?
Very cool coin there Daisy! Welcome, I'm sure someone will come along soon and give you the reason for the 19 being so weak. Good luck in your searching.
Your coin (nice photo BTW) was damaged by something after it left the mint in 1971 ... the indented surface adjacent to the date is the key clue that something happened Post-mint to cause this.
Looking forward to anything else you have to share.
Most likely PMD but a possible struck through debris. Either way no premium. This is a 1971-P. No P mintmark was put on the coin only on the D and S m.m.
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