1983 D Penny with misplaced D?? Or some other form of error?

[Cmorg]

Hey all I have this 1983 Lincoln cent with an odd shape on the tail of the 9, Im not sure if this is the mint mark possibly misplaced or if this is a different error..any ideas?

[MintErrors]

It definitely is not a D, the shape is way off. It very well may be a die chip that or other debris that was retained on to the coin.

The area appears raised, so that means it would have been sunken into the die in order to give it this effect. Or its a die chip, a chuck of metal that was formed from flakes of the metal over time, simply adhering to the coin.

The dies start out completely flat. Then a master hub with the image of the die will squeeze that image into the die. All the devices ( letters, numbers, buildings, etc) are sunk into the die. This way, when the die strikes a blank planchet into a coin, everything will be raised on the coin.

This very well may be a die gouge or something like that since it appears raised. My problem with this is, that it looks like it would have affected the proper punching of the "9" in the date.

Once I get some coffee in me, I may be able to provide a better reasoning, but as for now, I think its a die gouge or an issue with the die in the area around the "9".

It could be simply a die chip, but the placement of that chip should have distorted the punching of the "9" in the date. It looks like the "8" may have a bit of an issue, but I do not know if that is related or not.

[Kloccwork419]

Its a die chip. One I don’t remember seeing before.

[mustbebob]

Very weird place for a chip. As many of this date and MM that I have searched, I have never seen one of these. Interesting...

[MintErrors]

Bob, I totally agree. My initial concern was about the placement over the 9. I looked closely at the base of that chip and it does look weird, almost unnatural compared to all the others I have seen over the years. Like you have said in the past, it's the mint, they strike billions of coins a year. Just about anything is possible.

The weirdest thing I have ever seen in a mint error that was certified authentic was a Roosevelt dime struck on a.....nail. That went for over 40k at auction. Crazy.