1995 LMC Struck Through Grease ?

[Tom Chad]

About a year ago my brother gave me a couple of 1995 cents that seemed to be struck through excessive grease. At the time I thought they were just excessive grease strikes. My question, are they grease strikes? The first one has very little detail on the obverse and you can barely make out the date, the second has sort of pooling marks on it. Both have normal reverses.

In the most recent edition of Error Scope there is an article titled “Changeling!” which discusses grease struck 1995 cents and an anomaly in the 5. I don’t think my cents have the enlarged and rotated 5, but after looking at the pictures in the article I was second guessing weather they were grease strikes or not.

Thanks for taking a look

Tom

NODETAIL.jpg

DATE.jpg
You can barely make out the date in this pic.

POOLING.jpg
This is the second one.

SIDEBY.jpg

[wavysteps]

I believe both were struck through a late stage die cap.

BJ Neff

[diamond]

I agree, BJ.

[Tom Chad]

Thanks for the great info.

One of the coins was on the end of the uncirculated roll and the other was about 12 coins in to the same roll.

A couple of questions,

So I am clear on my understanding of this process, a cent was stuck on the obverse die for multiple strikes of numerous coins and was able to put the weak impression on the two coins I posted. Also, because of the extra material in the strike there is some outline of the reverse strike through from the reverse. Is this accurate? Also, I plan on returning them to my brother, I assume they are of some value. I was thinking about having them slabbed and giving them to him for Christmas. Is it worth sending them out?

Thanks again,

TOM

[wavysteps]

Your assumption is correct. The reason that we feel it is a late stage die cap is that there is some bleed through of the obverse design. In an early stage die cap you will see an almost full print of the reverse die (in this case) but it will be a mirror image. As more and more coins are struck with that cap, the metal of the cap becomes thinner and thinner, showing less of the mirror image and more of the obverse design. This will progress until the cap is removed or falls off.

Since they are a BU die cap, having them encapsulated would be a good idea. You also know the date of the coins since they were found in an uncirculated roll and the date on one is showing.

BJ Neff

[diamond]

It's impossible to determine whether the die cap started out as a normal coin or an error coin. Once it's pounded thin by numerous strikes against a succession of planchets, any design that might have been present on the reverse face is obliterated. There might not even have been any design to start with (i.e. a uniface die cap).

I see no sign of the reverse design on the obverse of your cents.

There's no point in slabbing them as they're worth perhaps $10 each.

[Tom Chad]

Thanks to both of you for the great information/education. Because I am an amateur I am not a frequent poster, but instead try to follow along with what the experts are discussing and search for my answers. This is a great resource with some great folks giving advice, help, and information. It’s why I joined CONECA.

Thanks again,

Tom Chadronet