1924-D And 1927-D, Worn Die?

@plan, with this amount of circulation wear, I think that it is going to be difficult to distinguish between normal wear patterns and an advanced die state during the striking nearly 100 years ago. With that said, it is very common for the rim and tops of the letters to merge as the coin gets very worn.

Spence said it good, if I were to posit grades on these, a net G-6 for the 24-D, and as high as a F-15 for the 27-D.

Spence calls it.

The rims are doing their job, but about to loose the battle on these two coins. As mentioned, circulation wear is taking its toll on these coins. Cent weren't strongly collected till about 1934. Then the rolls were started to be saved. (Even cent rolls were an expensive thing back in those days) most of the circulated coins like these are much thinner from the wear removing the metal from the rim of the coin. Thus when rolling these in a plastic holder, to roll them, you might have more the 51 cents in a roll as they were thinner from coin wear. (thus count these when putting them into a roll)

@plant, for sure you are allowed your own opinion, just as we are allowed ours. On the obv of the '27, Abe's ear is completely into his hair and the rims are almost worn into the letters. The rev is perhaps a little better preserved, with as you note most of the wheat stalks visible. But I didn't think you were talking about the reverse on that coin since there is nothing remarkable about it.

PG396
To see evidence of a later die state on circulated Lincoln cents look to the design elements near the rim. The horizontals of the E of We will start to distort almost in a class VI fashion. The T's of Trust will grow horns and the bottom of the vest will ripple as it fades to the rim , to name a few markers. Also , we're these coi s struck with dies that had turned to mush , the lower, protected hair details at the forhead would not retain their relief.
I see a slight bit of a few of the above die state indicators on your coin but not enough to cause the grade markers to disappear as a whole. To me your coins have just honest wear and the normal wear guidelines can be followed.

Well, I'll 'put in my 2 cents' here. the first coin is clearly worn all the device high points are worn flat, right down to the level of the rims. (that is what the rims do - protect the design elements.) once the rims are gone so is the design. The second coin is in better shape though - The obverse is worn much more than the reverse, which leads me to think that it was in a Whitman folder and the obverse was rubbed down while the reverse was protected.

Kk
That's good advice!