1943 Steel Penny With A White Line Bisecting Coin.

It could be a planchet issue? Does it leave an incuse mark on the bust area? If so then it is damage. But if it is flat also like the field, it may have been on the planchet before it was struck. Does it wipe off? Then it could be a pencil line. You can see what it is by having it in hand.

Make sure to leave the coin out to dry well. Putting it into a 2X2 slightly dam, you have have a rusty coin, the next time you look at it. But it maybe something that was on the stock metal.

Okay, here's what intrigues this know-nothing.

Deliberate PMD to produce this would require great cunning, skill and mental illness. The line is near perfectly placed to depict where to measure the diameter. Accidental PMD or machine handling would produce an incuse phenomenon.

I dismiss the possibility this line could have been present on the planchet.

By process of elimination (contrast this with "process of intelligence"), I blame metallurgy. I guess that something(s) in the creation of the coin (pressure? heat? cooldown?) riled up the atoms of iron and carbon causing the purest in the northern hemisphere to march southward and vice versa in the southern hemisphere precipitating a stalemate at the equator. Time applied a patina to all the easy to placate atoms but the marchers - so deeply offended by the minting process -- could not be un-miffed.

Kevin

Looks like a PMD scratch, but what do I know?

What I DO know, just fyi, it is never a good idea to wash/clean coins, especially with soap and water.

Soap and water is NEVER ok. Sorry. Soap has abrasives, while water has minerals it can leave on the coin's surface. If you must rinse off a coin, do so with distilled water without rubbing and allow to air dry. [:)}

The line appears to be raised.
Seems like it might be die damage that, as the coin circulated, the plated zinc surface wore off, exposing the steel core below. (There seem to be areas of light rust on the raised area.)

@merclover,

I speak out of turn and out of my leauge: correct