1997 Vise Job?

Vise job, I think, and the vise itself did what we see on the obverse.

I'm not quite sure if this was a vise job or not. The obverse there would be some kind of displacement with that much metal missing, also the coin would be bent out of wack somewhere and I do ot see that or wavyness to either side. Also part of the collar and detail remains on lincoln in the lamination looking spots. Also look at the building, the top 2 horizontal facsades have large areas of extra metal, the main spot I would look at is between the columns all detail is still there, it would be flattened if it was a vice or compressed by something

Hang on to it maybe someone else has an explanation. You would see the inner zinc core and you would have zinc wrought for sure in one of the areas if it was a vise job cause your coin already has it in other areas that's why I believe it to be from the mint it was done before plating!

Get another 1997 penny and use vices on it to compare the results if it was a vice then both will have the same result

Agree with PMD...the reverse couldn't possibly have happened before plating as the plating is done before the strike.But I'm no error expert either.You could always PM Mike Diamond.One thing about PMD is that there are millions of ways,but the minting process is limited and he can definitely eliminate the possibilities.