1986 D LMC - what is going on with LIBERTY?

[considine]

Hello. I am going through a bunch of loose change for a friend and this coin has me a little puzzled. This coin looks a lot better in hand than my pictures suggest, it would be quite nice without the stains. Anyway, I have seen the letters in LIBERTY appear to be different sizes within the word itself, however, this is the first coin I have seen with the LIB remarkably smaller than the ERTY. Just wondering how this happens?

Thanks for your thoughts and opinions.

[Kloccwork419]

That is die deterioration

[considine]

Thank you Kloccwork419. It looked like Font 10 vs 14 to me! Appreciate the lesson, I know these seem so obvious to you and sorry if it seems like a rhetorical question.

[MintErrors]

Hello. I am going through a bunch of loose change for a friend and this coin has me a little puzzled. This coin looks a lot better in hand than my pictures suggest, it would be quite nice without the stains. Anyway, I have seen the letters in LIBERTY appear to be different sizes within the word itself, however, this is the first coin I have seen with the LIB remarkably smaller than the ERTY. Just wondering how this happens?

Thanks for your thoughts and opinions.

Look at the left side of the LIB letters. I think I can see some damage/reduction in width. Its probably more obvious in hand ?
The left side looks like the metal was lifted to the top of the letter, and partially removed, leaving a small deposit of metal at the top of LIB.

image_25676-cropped.jpg

[considine]

Hi MintErrors. This close up shows the dramatic difference in the fields around the devices. It does look like metal was 'lifted' to the top of the letter. Does it 'stick' to the die and then get relocated or is it the metal flowing and moving to different places due to the die deterioration?