1945 Lincoln Wheat Cent Missing Letters On Reverse

Looks like a minor grease issue, not uncommon.

no, I don't think it is a grease issue here.
It is because the obverse design is so deep (the shoulder area) that it took up the material more than the reverse did so it could not strike up effectively.

Here is how I see it, the shoulder has more empty space to fill and has a lower pressure area, the reverse has much smaller devices to fill up, so the pressure would be higher on the reverse side so the metal moves to the lower pressure side.

Minor Greaser or what Dearborn suggested. Fun and interesting find.

The first coin I ever posted on CCF, way back in 2011, was struck through in about the same area.





@Dearborn That would be true for the lettering on a Memorial cent, but not a Wheat reverse. That area isn't opposite the shoulder, it's opposite of Lincoln's ear and hair, so I'm leaning towards a Grease Filled Die. Here's an overlay showing how things line up.