1916 Or 1918? :) Wheat Penny Error Confirmation Or PMD

PMD for sure whatever the date.



to the CCF!

wheatychief,
Your photos look like a photo of a monitor screen,is it?
John1

Just post mint damage. In this condition you are looking at face value. But a 1916 or a 1918 penny are not worth that much and readily available anyway.

Nothing in the minting process could do this.

Looking for coin errors without actually knowing what makes a collectable coin error is like trying to catch a trout without knowing what a trout is.

ebay auctions deceive people into thinking a funny looking coin is a collectable error. Not true.

Mint errors are NOT just odd looking coins. And if you don't know how to ID them from among the millions of damaged coins out there, you are going to keep being disappointed.

Spend some initial time at places like error-ref.com, doubleddie.com, varietyvista.com, conecaonline.org, coppercoins.com etc. to find what actual and collectable coin errors look like.

A good way to start is, for instance, separate a bunch of pennies by date. Go to varietyvista.com and, date by date, use the reference there to see what errors are known for that specific coin/mint mark. Look for those specific errors/varieties using the pictures provided. After doing this for awhile you will KNOW what an actual error looks like and not have to waste time on face value and damaged coins. :)

@wheatychief
Your second coin seems to be the victim of a grinder.

to the CCF!

As noted, just damage on these.

Cujohn said...


Instead of a 'Parking Lot Coin' the one may be a 'Dragstrip Coin.'

Yes, both of these coins are PMD. They both appear to have been mangled post-mint. For the 1916, it's been grabbed by something and squeezed there - it's no longer circular in shape. For the 194x, it seems to have been caught in or under something rough and dragged or scraped.

In both cases, the damage seems to have happened quite some time ago, as the surfaces in the damaged areas are oxidized.

Technically, I think neither of these coins are legal tender any more - they've been mutilated beyond tolerance. The first coin is no longer round (so won't pass in a vending machine or coin counter), and the second coin has probably lost too much weight.