2008 Penny Elizabeth Error

Hi Folcan, out of 8 2008 pennies, I've found 2 that are full "1"'s and 2 that are "thin serif"'s. Very cool find! In a week I'm going to be on vacation and sorting through about 80,000 circulation pennies (I'm probably a little OCD). I'll provide some stats on this error in circulation after that.

Okey dokey folcan, I've got some of my stats for you. I searched all 40 of my 2008's and I found a whole wack of errors. First off, thanks for alerting me to them! The late pennies portion of my collection has just taken a healthy input. Second of all, do a thorough search of all your own pennies! I found 7 different types, pertaining to the serifs:

1. Full serifs on the entire obverse

2. A short upper left serif on the "H"

3. Varying degrees of thin serifs of the "L" and 1st "I", with short upper left serifs on the "H" and 3rd "E", and a missing lower left serif on the "R"

4. Varying degrees of thin serifs on the "L" and 1st "I", short serifs on the "H" and "E", and missing lower left serifs on the "R" and "B"

5. "L" upper left serif thin only at the tip, with serifs on the "I" thin on both sides, short upper left serifs on the "H" and #rd "E", and the "B" and "R" each missing the lower left serif

6. "L" has a thin upper left serif, "I" has thin upper right serif only at the tip, the "H" has a short upper left serif, and the "R" is missing its lower left serif.

7. Short upper left serif on the "L", "I" is missing the upper left serif and has a thin upper right serif, "H" and "E" have short upper left serifs, and there is no lower left serif on either the "B" or the "R".

I found that the varieties were spread around fairly evenly, with the "regular" full serif variety only about a third of the lot. That means about two thirds of all 2008's that I've seen have serif varieties. And I know you didn't mention it, but I found that many of those serif variety pennies had tiny die cracks coming off some of the letters as well -- some only a few, some almost all of them. So serif, die crack, and the odd planchet flaw varieties all combined, I found that I had about 20 different 2008 pennies. Totally sweet! And yet not one of them was the "I-looks-like-a-1" variety you had pictured. Weird, eh?

I hope this adds to the fund of knowledge you have on them.

I agree. I'm still looking for one or two to round out my set. And who knows? Maybe other years have similar varieties. Checking them out will be today's job, I think.

Well here are 2 more of the number 1 version. I love these the most. I think I will keep these ones only as they are more distinguished.

Sweet. I'm still looking for my first no serif on the "I".

Another mini-update: Haven't found any similar varieties on the 2009's, even though I looked through a small stack of them. Maybe the stack wasn't big enough?

Looks like I may have to buy a few rolls myself. Where do you get your rolled 2008's? Do you pick them up on ebay or are they rolls you had saved from 4 years ago?