1996 Penny With Multiple Cloth Etching?

Cloth? Not quite. On stinkin zinkins these can be one of two things, a linear plating bubble, trapped gasses eroding under the copper layer or as you have here, "feeder finger damage" The mechanism that puts the coin into the chamber was out of sync and scraped across the die face creating those straight line gouges. It is a "mint error", but as has been said before, "Don't quit yer day job"! Ya haven't won the coin lotto with that one.

Save it as an example now you know what it is.

Crazyb) nailed it.
Feeder finger damage.
Here is a photo of another 1996 CENT with the samefeeder finger damage.
Note marks are in the same area as on your coin.

JimmyD - that's crazy that your coin matches with mine; they are like brothers!

Errers and Varietys - thanks for the link and the congrats with the find!

By cloth marks I believe he is talking about the linear plating bubbles that are running perpendicular tot he feed finger damage. Creates a "criss croos effect that looks a little like cloth weave.