Cracked 1940 Jefferson, Bad Planchet, Or Damaged?

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New member here, so bear with me. I have been an 'accumulator' of coins since the late 1970's, mostly odd coins from spare change. Until recently, they have been stored at my parents house. When my father died two years ago, I acquired his 'accumulation', as well as both my grandfathers. I have several hundred pounds of coins too search through, mostly junk silver and a few gold coins. So more questions to come.

My first question is about this 1940 Jefferson nickel. I have had it since the mid-1980's, and probably pulled it from pocket change. It has cracks over its entire surface, including the rim. It is circulated and worn to around Good condition, and weighs 4.86 grams. Do you guys think this coin originated from an abnormal planchet (bad annealing), a minting error, or was just damaged somehow while in circulation? I've been wondering for 40 years - so it's time to ask the experts.
Thanks,
Tom

Wouldn't a fire char the surface and leave telltale residue?

You might be able to split a metal surface like that by heating it to red hot, and then plunging it immediately into water. That will definitely cause crazy cracking when forging steel.

Here's a quote from Mike Diamond on a similar looking coin - "This is not an error. Alan Herbert called these "sewer coins", presumably because their prolonged immersion in human waste eats into the surface."

CoinHI quoted,
"This is not an error. Alan Herbert called these "sewer coins", presumably because their prolonged immersion in human waste eats into the surface."

Great! I was just looking at the coin while eating chicken wings.

Edited by Tombstone1
06/01/2023 11:25 am

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This pops up when I googled "sewer coin". It's a Euro coin with similar cracks, but there is no information about the coin, just the image.
https://www.alamy.com/stock-photo-e...9800323.html

Ha sorry Tombstone1, error hunting isn't all its "cracked" up to be :)

Type "sewer" into the CCF search engines and you will find Mike Diamond as commented on these coins several times like here http://goccf.com/t/402619&SearchTerms=sewer

Thanks CoinHI. Interesting read.
I've worked with removing and converting corrosion on metals in the aviation sector for over 30 years, and I'm still trying to wrap my head around the chemical process that could have caused this. Most corrosion processes leave a pitted or etched surface.The closest corrosion process that I know of is filiform corrosion, but that process usually occurs beneath organic coatings such as paint and clear coats. Other similar process would follow the grain structure of the metal, but the surface of this nickel was attacked very randomly. However, I have exactly zero experience with corrosion on copper/nickel alloys in this ratio.
Even if poop did cause it, it still looks pretty cool.
Thanks again,
Tom

Edited by Tombstone1
06/01/2023 4:36 pm

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Boy - that sure stinks, finding a coin like that..

to the CCF I knew we have seen this before, CoinHi has the receipts. Looks kinda cool, butt not something that's very poopular.

Another scenario I've heard of involves heat first and then dry ice or liquid nitrogen. The quick cooling supposedly causes the surface to crack.

I've never tried this though.

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