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Your average 1968 cent shows peripheral letters basically touching the rim. A popular answer on why this occurs is that the master hub was very, very aged. Lange asserts that the 1909, albeit modified once, Lincoln cent master hub was used for 1968. However, Wiles shows that there were nearly two dozen master design changes before 1968. It is my assumption that each of these changes were on a new master hub or master die that was promoted to a master hub. Based on Wiles' work, it appears the 1968 master hub was first used in 1960. With this in mind, I am unsure why 1950 cents, for example, would not show a greater degree of expanding on the design, as the master hub used was even older, first seen for 1935.
These two sources seem to be obviously contradictory, but maybe I am misunderstanding something.
These two sources seem to be obviously contradictory, but maybe I am misunderstanding something.