1979 1 Cent With Rippled Surface

coin 1 is rippled on the entire obverse. it was also struck through a piece of thread or something below the T of Elizabeth.









coin 2 has a slight ridge visable through the H of Elizabeth. above it it is quite rippled but below it it is almost a normal surface. As you can see, both reverses have a normal surface compared to the obverses.









by the way...the bag of pennies also produced a 1955 hanging 5, 1961 hanging 1, 1963 hanging 3, 2 of 1964 hanging 4's, and a pair of 1967's with matching die cracks! definitely a bag o' fun


ANY info on the pictured coins would be appreciated. please?
thanks in advance.

hey there Pennyman007...I will post a pic of the hanging 5 when I have time tonight

I would double-check to see if the coin has been coated with shellac -- that could alter the surface appearance. I've been fooled by shellac'd coins in the past, thinking it's an error coin of some sort. Dipping the coin in acetone would dissolve the coating (if there is one).

I'm wondering about the weight? Is it possible that the planchet was flawed? Impurities in the base metal?
Nice finds

Those are specimen singles, which came from the mint in 1979 with a lacquered surface in the double dollar Prestige Sets (Yes, the RCM lacquered the specimen cents in the 1970s, to preserve their lustre). You are seeing a disturbance in the lacquer, either from packaging the specimen strike too quickly, before the lacquer hardened, or post-mint with the lacquer either being exposed to heat (shrinking) or a solvent.

Pick any 1979 specimen coin, and soak half of it it in a strong solvent... or hold one in a pair of pliers and take a paint stripping heat gun to it, or pull one out of a junk bin, and scrape the surface with a sharp needle... you'll see lacquer shavings with the latter, or really cool surface patterns with either of the former.

As an impaired specimen, it is not worth much more than 25-cents.

You mean you have them in hand and didn't try scraping them with your fingernail or a toothpick?..oh well lol
If they're only worth 25 cents as suggested by SPP then clean them with whatever but I'm sure your safe with acetone.

The PL singles were selectively lacquered from 1961 to 1967, meaning, some were, and some were not - see my CN Journal article (Canadian Spice, June 2014). I don't think the PL singles in the 1970s were lacquered. The Double Dollar Prestige sets, after 1974 and before 1981 (when proof strikes were introduced) definitely were. Oddly enough, the double cent specimen sets (small red boxes, without the silver dollars) did not have lacquered 1-cent coins, and you find some nice toned cents in those sets.

If you want, I can sent you a specimen single from that same year, then you can "have at 'er" with solvents, tools, etc... - drop me a PM. I'll put a good scratch in it, so you don't feel compelled to "save it". The only caveat is that you photograph and share your results here. It is more like an epoxy than lacquer - I don't know about acetone, I used a stronger solvent under the fume hood at work. Don't mess with solvents, unless you know what you are doing. The paint stripping heat gun is fun though...