1986 LMC Don't Even Know What To Call It But Its Awesome

Looks like Die Deterioration to me. Neat, but no premium, as this is fairly common on zincolns.

Dave

This really is another type of Die Deterioration. A die strikes in the center first and the pressure of the strike goes out radially toward the rim. As the pressure goes past the letters it can wear away the field between the letter and the rim. You have some nice photos of this. But this is not an error. It is a die state.

Thanks Pyrbob,
But iam still wondering how there is an actual indentation of each letter formed when the letter itself sticks up above the surface of the coin

This is one of many forms of Die Deterioration - the others are correct.

The basic process is that the die is being eaten away by moving particles of steel on its surface, causing MOST of the outer area to be raised on the resulting coins. For some reason the lettering at the outer periphery of the design protects the surface from this effect. The result is that the area just outside the lettering has the normal surface intact, while the other areas have a caved-in appearance to the die that translates to raised areas on the coins.

In some cases this form of Die Deterioration appears as a raised field all the way around the coin without regard to the lettering. It's the same cause, but the effect in this case appears as though the field is raising up and swallowing the letters of the motto. Many have been posted here in the forum in the past.

In almost all cases "oddities" of the surface on zinc cents - especially near the rim - are caused by one form or another of Die Deterioration or simple poor quality control in the early years of minting coins on this unfamiliar metal composition. By around 1992 most of the quirks had been worked out and the occurrence of such oddities dwindles significantly.

A good example to study by