I was searching through a bunch of pennies, and there were about 40 from 1983. Out of these, 12 had die defects, most with multiple die cracks, some even up to 4 or 5 distinct cracks(all on reverse). Are they supposed to be this common for 1983s?
I've searched through mountains of Lincoln cents across many decades. I've come across staggering numbers of cents struck from old, tired dies--meaning lots of Die Deterioration features, including die cracks and die chips. Lots. These features, in my opinion, are not 'supposed' to be common, but they pretty much are--primarily because the mint(s) tend to use dies until they are on the brink of failing.
You didn't mention if they were minted in Philly or Denver. The Philly mintage was almost 8 Billion that year but and the Denver mint put out almost 6.5 Billion - overworking them dies.
To answer your question, yes. The first full year of the zincoln, it was a mess to say the least. Great doubled dies, clashes, counter clashes, cracks, and some nice Cuds. I'm sure I've misses some stuff, just study and keep searching. Here is my best 83 cracked up coin and some links to check out.
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