1975 Penny W/ Rotated "5" In The Date

my first thought is Machine Doubling, that the coin twisted a bit as the die was lifting off it, there's a bit of doubling on the other digits too

I have to side with nick10. If the 5 took a hit it wouldn't hold its full digit shape like it has. The 5 might be slightly higher than the 197 and therefore the 5 hung on the die just slightly longer creating more of a rotating MD. Is that possible?

I'm thinking circulation hit.

@TedError I know what you mean, but the metal of digits and letters are known to shear and dislocate when they take a hit at the right angle. The entire date shows flattening. The 5 should be slightly higher that the other digits, as seen by looking at a 1975 cent with no damage. The flattened top of the 5 shows where the metal was before it was forced down and slightly to the right.

I took your image and did a 'side by side' comparison to an image of a MS-68 RD from PCGS Coinfacts. Both coins came from dies prepared from the same master hub used in 1975, with a VERY slight chance of having been struck with the same obverse die. The large difference in thickness, shape and metal location had to come from a hit to the top of the 5, in my opinion.

Click the picture for a larger image.

Yokozuna thanks for the good date photo. I am going to have to have my kids do some overlays. There is still something unusual about that 5 and it even looks more obvious with the two photos. Give me some time with the kids:).

I have the same "wide 5". I don't believe in coincidences especially with coins. The top of the 5 you can clearly see was pushed on both my and the OP's coins, the circular part is static and the spread on the tail from the first strike is visible as it's own entity, it is not connected to the tail of the later strike. This is a mint error.

@ mpoeddie: The bar of the 5 on your coin has clearly been moved as can be seen in the stretching of the metal. The 2nd tail of the 5 that your refer to looks more like a die gouge. If that were a 2nd tail, then it would significantly raise the 5 higher which would be impossible without also raising the other digits of the date. This would give clear separation of all digits and be a very nice doubled die.

Would it be impossible for 2 coins going through a mechanism such as a Gumball Machine to have the same type of damage?

This is PMD in my opinion.