1964 D Imprint of "OF AMER"

[Merlin8971]

I found this 1964 D Lincoln penny. The letters are raised and reversed and there does seem to be extra metal that extends past Lincoln's shoulder.

What would cause this?

[Zimmy]

Looks as though someone added glue to your coin and then pressed a struck coin into the glue area. If you apply finger nail polish remover to the glued area, you will eventually get the glue to come off. Sorry for the bad news.

[Merlin8971]

Glue

I have searched more than 8,000 rolls of pennies in the last two years. I have seen all kinds of gunk, crap, hair and boogers on pennies. I am quite sure I can distinguish between glue and metal.

If you would have read my post carefully you would have noticed I said "the letters are raised." A glue spot with the impression of another coin would have "indented" letter impressions, not raised letters.

[Zimmy]

That does seem odd that the letters are raised. From the pictures it sure looked like a glue impression with the classic raised area and lettering that would read backwoods from being impressed but you have the coin and can see better than me. It just doesn't look like any legit error type that I have ever seen. Maybe someone else has an opinion that can help.

[Merlin8971]

I agree

I agree it is a weird coin. I do have a theory about how it happened, but I want to see what other info can be gleened before I reveal my thoughts about it. The combination of raised letters and mirror image does perplex me.

[numismanut]

I agree: this does look perplexing. First off, it seems unlikely to have happened at the mint, as far as I can tell. The anvil die for the reverse is situated below the obverse die, so some piece of material could not just have leaped on top of the planchet. Also, the letters are mirrored while still remaining in relief. I can't crack this nut just yet, but I would guess either some sort of homemade die/imprint test, or part of the reverse soldered onto the observe somehow.

[rascal]

I think I know what did this . It looks like someone has done a squeeze job on a coin and used the altered coin as a die for this one. when two coins are pressed together this leaves backwards and incuse letters on the coins. then when one of these altered coins is pressed onto another coin the letters will still be backwards but raised.

letters like these can also happen at the mint but this ones looks to be altered for sure. look where the rim of the other coin dug down into this one , it looks like to me that all along the right side of this the coins metal is pushed up. if this had been done at the mint IMO this would have to be smooth. also the coin shows some damage on the reverse side on the bottom part of the memorial building .

remember that this is only my opinion because all I have to go by is the photos.

[rascal]

Merlin are you 100% sure this is not glue? after looking at the photos again I can see what looks like glue going thru the D mintmark and below it. also there is a drop of glue or some other liquid at the bottom of Lincoln's profile , so it does look like this coin may have been around some glue or other liquid.

[numismanut]

I think that rascal might be on the right track, and I considered such a process too. I am still unsure how to explain the fact that lincoln's head on this coin is still fully intact, and why the edges of the impression look so clean. Additionally, unless my logic in flawed, if a coin took the impression of another coin's reverse and then was impressed upon this coin's obverse, wouldn't the letters be in their regular direction, instead of mirrored? And I would expect to see an impression of the other coin's rim on the rim of this coin, but that doesn't seem to be the case. I'm still fairly puzzled, but more pics from different angles would help and add to the information we already have.

[foundinrolls]

It's really not too perplexing. You can see the "glue" on the coin under the date as well. No matter how the letters came to be, they are a result of some kind of adhesive being applied to the coin and then being manipulated using another coin.

Thanks,
Bill

[wavysteps]

I think that Bill has hit the nail on the head. Try soaking the coin in acetone (not finger nail polish remover) and see if the glue dissolves.

BJ Neff

[Zimmy]

It looks like several responders to this thread "hit the nail on the head" including all the way back to the 2nd post. I suggested Nail polish remover since it is mainly made up of acetone and most people have that readily available versus having acetone in their cupboard. I know that nail polish remover does remove glue from a coin. I would like to know why someone shouldn't use nail polish remover to remove the glue.

[foundinrolls]

It looks like several responders to this thread "hit the nail on the head" including all the way back to the 2nd post. I suggested Nail polish remover since it is mainly made up of acetone and most people have that readily available versus having acetone in their cupboard. I know that nail polish remover does remove glue from a coin. I would like to know why someone shouldn't use nail polish remover to remove the glue.

Hi,

Some nail polish removers made today don't use acetone in them anymore. The ones that do are usually made so that the acetone level is between 3% and 5% of the total composition. That is a pretty low level when you consider that it evaporates out of the mix pretty quickly.

With some adhesives, the glue can soften and then harden again before you even get a chance to wipe it off the coin:-). You end up smearing the glue but not removing it.

Acetone is unsafe to breath so if you do use it straight, use it outside. I wouldn't use it in the house it would make my parrots sick:-)

Thanks,
Bill

[Zimmy]

The nail polish remover in my house lists acetone as the 1st ingredient which I always thought meant it was the most abundant ingredient. If that is the case, then how could it only be 3 or 4 percent of the total?

[wavysteps]

Nail polish remover, even with high levels of acetone have other ingredients in the mixture that can cause chemical stains to a coin's surface. Pure acetone will not do that and that is why i suggested its use.

BJ Neff