1981 D Penny With Buffalo Over Lincoln

Wow - hope the OP is not confused by all of the above!

Your coin has some sort of stain or chemically altered area on it. "Chemically altered" referring to the penny's copper surface interacting with something the coin was subjected to.

Your coin may once have had tape across it, and the tape was not completely pressed down so all the coin's design details touched the sticky surface.

It is possible the tape trapped some foreign substance (even finger oils can alter the color of the surface over time) on the now darkened areas the tape was in contact with. The untouched immediate areas around higher features on the coin, such as Lincoln's profile and the word LIBERTY were not touching in cintact with the tape and therefore remained their normal color.

As to the buffalo theory, please look up the word Pareidolia. Its like seeing pictures in the clouds.


And...don't worry if you want to call it a buffalo. There are over 20 million people who (and their ancestors who were around when the "...buffalo roamed, and the deer and...") that will stand behind NOT calling their fair city Bison, NY:





Not to mention the millions of (not Bison) Buffalo Bills fans.

@Silvios
Hey, forgive me if it looked like I was complaining. I was not. I was just having fun! Please take no offense either.

Since I grew up close enough to Buffalo (and am called nuts b/c I miss having a REAL winter!), I am one of the crowd that gets a kick out of people making a scientifically correct observation about the animal and trying to apply it to one of those culturally accepted ideas that will be around forever

I am a former science teacher myself.

@Silvios
I wish I could live in an area like you do! Although I love the town I am in, I miss being in the wild like I used to be.