I was plowing through 6000 cents when I noticed this penny. It caught my eye because it did not look like Lincoln. It looked more like Jeff Davis. Whoever cleaned this die was careful. He reshaped Lincoln's hair, giving him locks at the top by cleaning away the hair under od in God. Then he reshaped the top forelock, came down and destroyed his mouth. So much so that it looks like a handlebar mustache joins his beard. He did not shorten the beard, but cut away Lincolns' neck, so that the beard seems to jut out. Then he went down the coat area, taking half the tie, and the entire front of the coat. Not even the many folds, or the back of the coat escaped his attention. Note the distance from the Y in liberty to the coat. And VDB? Gone, save the tiniest "movement" at the top. Wow! A whole new person. Compare the first image with the second.
That may be the most polished die I've ever seen. Makes me wonder what the mint worker was hiding. I did a side by side of your pics with the polished die marked up. Nice find!
Thanks makecents for the side by side. I should have done that. And coop, thanks for posting yours. it's great. I'm going to look for more in BU condition. Would love to have found a roll of them.
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