What Is The Big Deal About Thin Planchet?

A thin planchet error will be a light coin. It is caused by rolling the metal stock too thin before punching the planchets.

As an example, I found a 1954-D LWC with a light planchet last year. A normal Lincoln will weigh 3.1g but this one weighed 2.7g. It has all the appearances of a normal Lincoln with a bit of weakness and it is slightly thinner. I was sorting through a batch of bulk wheats and it hit the desk, I immediately noticed the higher-pitched ring it made. I put it on a scale and it was missing a few tenths. The middle coin in the edge shot is the thin planchet.





There is also the possibility that it was struck on a foreign planchet. The color is not markedly different from that of another Lincoln so the composition would have to be similar. Unless I can match the weight to that of a foreign planchet used by the US Mint at the time, I will list it as a light planchet. I believe that foreign coins were only minted at Philadelphia so that would make it even more unlikely being from Denver.

As for the value of a thin planchet, I really have no idea but I would value it at least a few dollars. A larger difference in weight would probably increase the value as would being able to positively ID it as a foreign planchet.

Only worth a premium is someone is willing to pay.
I'm not a fan of any error coin, to me they are a mistake
and undesirable. Not that I would put a 55 DD back in circulation,
or a 37 3 legger but for the most part I'll let someone else save them.

I start pay more attention about the thin plancet. It turn out that many of them have thin on one side and thick on the other. I found one interesting Jefferson nickel without a nose due to thin plancet on the face area. I hope I can submit the photo soon.