1998 Cent Dropped Letter

very possible @coop I thought you were a bot or something

PMD, Bob.

Agreed. Our very own EverReady bunny© of the coin forums. Always going and ready to help.

IMHO, he's on target with it more likely being pressed into the brow by another coin.

In all of your images, the "U" is weaker at the top which indicates to me a stiff, solid object (like a U from another coin) created this when being pressed into a curved detail like the brow. I think a dropped letter, being pliable, would tend to leave a uniform depth since it was on the planchet when struck.

@pete you said "I think a dropped letter, being pliable, would tend to leave a uniform depth since it was on the planchet when struck."

i disagree considering that the device(U) actually breaks off of the die,it isn't going to break off perfectly even...but at a slight angle....or even a jagged pattern...who knows. I dont believe the "depth" would be a determining factor in authenticating this. IMO

Couldn't have possibly happened in the minting process. Just PMD

My understanding is that a dropped letter is not caused by a broken piece from a device on the die, (the die details are incuse not raised) but rather material that has filled the recessed area of the die and has fallen out of that recess. (ie: grease with particulate in it).

This "greasy mixture" lands flat on the planchet and is struck into the design and is why I described it as pliable.

I'm a collector and not a pro, but from what I've seen dropped letters tend to show up on the fields of the coins, not on large devices of a coin. It is just too easy for damage to occur on the raised areas of a coin.

It wouldn't surprise me to learn that the sloped areas of larger devices (the portrait, rim, etc.) allows the dropped letter to shift and slide as metal fills the void during the strike, thus minimizing any resemblance to the original dropped letter.

This is just MHO.

I'm still learning but the easiest explanation usually makes the most sense. (Occam's Razor)
How many attributed dropped letters are located solely on the raised devices? (I don't think I have ever seen any.)

I don't think a lack of other adjacent letters proves it must be struck through a dropped letter. People experiment with coins fairly regularly, as a visit to Youtube can attest (and will put Occam's Razor to the test). A metal punch purchased or made with the U from a coin by someone else, perhaps to place the U on that coin?

I'm just saying dropped letters outside the field of a coin are extremely hard to prove and convince the attributors.