1944 Lincoln Wheat Cent - Oddity: Too Small, Major Doubling, Whatzit?

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TB , someone really had fun with that one !
A soft die was used on the obverse with the reverse against something like concrete. The coin may have been ground down in diameter first as the edges seem to slope down smoothly.
Had the planchet been smaller to start with , design elements like the L of Liberty would have stretched out and disappeared like is seen happening at a clip.
The soft die left GOD, the bottom tips of the W of WE and the bottom of one of the 4's of the date on Abes shoulder.
The strike against concrete also flattened the reverse in the appropriate opposing places.
Quite cool actually.

The metal composition would need to be known to really consider a foreign planchet.

But planchets that meet the following criteria (1943/44, Philly, copper alloy, 2.5-2.8 grams & 16-18mm to allow for tolerances) would be:
1)1944 Ecuador 5 centavo ..... (2.0g, 17.0mm)
2)1943 El Salvador 1 Centavo .. (2.5g, 16.0mm)
3)1944 Ethiopia 1 Centime ..... (2.85g,17.0mm)
4)1944 Nicaragua 1 Centavo .... (2.5g, 18.0mm)
5)1944 Peru 5 Centavo ........ (3.0g, 17.0mm)

An interesting one indeed.

I am leery of the "edges ground down" theory because of two things. First, the coin is perfectly round and looking at the edge itself one sees a smooth flow coming frim the obverse side and a very regular matte pattern below a waving line to the reverse side. Can't see how grinding creates that look. Second, if the tapering down at the rim on the obverse were ground that way then the L of LIBERTY should be damaged or gone but it just slopes down along with everything else.

My thought is that the coin was punched with a circular punch from the obverse side, removing the rim and forcing the slope and pushing a bit of metal down flat along the edge.

Also been thinking about dimes. Since this would match the punch size of a dime planchet, the dime puncher could have perfectly hit an already struck penny.

But seriously, the whole dime punch thing seems ridiculous and just tossing out random things, as the doubling strongly suggests a soft die is involved here somewhere and not mint processes.

Last thing I am wondering about is how the left wheat on the reverse seems to have a somewhat real-looking rim very close to it. Possible flattening of whatever was left in that area after the coin was punched and then soft died?

Back then people did cut them down to mimic a dime.
John1