1983 P Lincoln Cent Unusual Obverse

I think it's a combination of Die Deterioration, plating issues and maybe your lighting adding to the look. That being said, many of the doubled dies for this year are very minute and could be hiding in the other things going on. Tough for me to tell on this coin.

Not saying I don't see some things you described, but remember this year or early eighties copper plated zinc cents are known to have plating issues. Might need to consider that effect. Thanks, Doug.

The 1983/84 dies were way over polished. Note the devices on your coin are smaller than normal on both sides of the coin. This is from over polishing the dies, reducing the fields. The die was normal, but the polishing removes the width of the devices at the base of the dies, thus making the coins looking thinner/shorted. Just die events. Not a different design, just a reduction of the devices from die events that happened to the dies. Die clashes, DDD polishing to remove field disturbances, and Ridge Ring on the outer devices. Also the clashes/feeder finger damage could have left undesirable distracting marks on the dies. So it is just a spendable coin. But knowing what happened to the dies, is what you need to know, so you can move on to the next coin. (That's the value, knowing what happened to the dies)

Coop your knowledge is impressive. I am new to this and have been educating myself by reading your threads/post at the top of this forum page. Were you employed at the mint in the past? Thanx for sharing your knowledge!!