Children Find 1997 Wheat Penny?

Both 9's looks carved lol

Looks like legitimate wheatie where the second 9 has been altered.
By increasing the size, you can see the difference in the two 9's.
No value but worth keeping as novelty coin.

Altered date seems to be the most likely explanation. Here is the best I can do with the OP's current pic:





Also, welcome to CCF @conf!

this is the result of idle hands and bored minds

It may have been a 1917 cent?

Just added a larger '9' onto the coin. To bad it may have been a DDO for that year:

Now just a junk coin.

Thanks to everyone for their feedback and insights. I took some additional photos to see if that helps (side, angle, etc.). I also tried to take a few of the questionable 9 through a microscope. From the images it is possible someone altered the upper right edge and perhaps the center. If they did, they did a very good job. I am also still struggling to determine what was the altered number. My first guess was 1957, but from the photos that does not seem too easy. 1947 is possible, but the bottom of the 4 does not extend enough. 1937 I thought the three is much small than the 9.
1927 because of the shape of the top of the 2, but again I don't see an alteration to the tail of the 9 where the bottom of the two would connect. Also the 2 is much small, so altering the bottom would be difficult.

My opinion, it's an altered coin--reasonably well done. Certainly a fun curiosity.

If you feel you do have a legit, rare mint error, consider submitting it to a reputable third party grading/assessment service for evaluation. If you do, please let us know the results. Thanks.

to the Community!