1929s Wierd!

[launcherimu]

Came across this coin in my bag of 5,000 LC I purchased last year. Phew! First of all It looked and felt wierd. Got my scale out and it only weighs 2.7 (scale vacilates to 2.8 sometimes) grams. Most of my LC weigh around 3.1 or 3.2 grams? The coin is really very shiney and I don't think the pictures do justice. It looks like Lincoln has a hairnet on and the 'S' mintmark is really strange. Anyone have any idea what I have here? Thanks in advance. Leslie

[wolfkill]

:neutral:you right looks kinda odd???

[JeanK]

2.7+- is an odd weight for a wheat cent. What is the condition of the reverse?
Jean

[launcherimu]

Sorry! Forgot to put that in. The reverse doesn't look to bad, Just a couple wheat ears and very faint. Don't know about the weight. Very strange..

[JeanK]

It sure has me wondering if this is a real coin, much less a 1929S wheat cent. Or, the other possibility is this coin was struck on a foreign planchet. One would need to determine what other country's coins were being struck at our mints to check out the viability of such a result. Because of the prices of nice 1929S cents nowadays, I would think this year and mintmark combo could be a target for counterfeiters. I have no way of knowing for sure though. Good luck on finding out what happened to it!!
Jean

[jfines69]

This should be sent in for an in hand inspection... My first though was also counterfeit... I'm No Pro (INP) though!!!

[tinytinkerbell]

Odd indeed. Just a suggestion: weigh another wheat cent and then weigh this coin again to double check your scale is correctly calibrated. If it truly weighs much less then it should, I would think sending it to someone to hand examine would be a good idea. :)

[launcherimu]

I weighed and re-weighed it several times. Also several regular Lincoln cents. Come up with the same thing. The other alternative as you suggested is to send it in somewhere.

[atarian]

lets see the side how thick is that compared to the regular cents.

[launcherimu]

Good idea Jay! They look the same to me but no expert here.

[DoubleYou]

Perhaps it was soaked in acid.

I doubt not it's authenticity, as there is no monetary gain toward counterfeiting a 1929-S penny -- cost to make the counterfeit would be higher than the real coin would be worth!

[launcherimu]

I agree. As far as the acid?? It's just too shiney I think any acid would have dulled it. Wouldn't it??

[1sgret]

I think the best thing to do is send it to Mike Diamond for anaylsis. The coin looks to be cleaned or buffed and also looks to have normal circulation wear to me. With just Pictures of this type of error usually a correct determination cannot be made as to what, how or why the coin looks like this and why the lower weight.

[launcherimu]

Dumb question, Who is Mike Diamond?? Are you the same one that moved my thread?? Thanks, Leslie

[Steven]

In short Mike Diamond is an error coin writer and researcher. He is also the Administrator of http://board.conecaonline.org/. Very well respected amongst the coin community.

[launcherimu]

Thank you for the link. There are a list of attributors on Coneca but no Mike Diamond. I wouldn't know which attributor to send to? A Mike Ellis is on the list for 20 - 21st century. Is that a good choice? I've never sent a coin in before and way out of the loop as to how to do this. Thanks, Leslie

[1sgret]

Dumb question, Who is Mike Diamond?? Are you the same one that moved my thread?? Thanks, Leslie

Mike Diamond is a member of this Forum and You can Private Message him and ask him to take a look at your Coin thread by visiting his profile page. He may be currently unavailable until the 18th July 2011.


Link to Profile Page of Mike Diamond: http://www.lincolncentresource.net/forums/member.php?u=47

Click onto his Contact Info Tab on his profile page to send him a message. I also see that anyone can send a Regular E-Mail Message also under his Contact Info Tab. Hope this helps and if I can be of further assistance please ask.

No, I was not the Moderator who moved your thread. Steven, another Forum Moderator moved your thread prior to me seeing your request.

[1sgret]

Thank you for the link. There are a list of attributors on Coneca but no Mike Diamond. I wouldn't know which attributor to send to? A Mike Ellis is on the list for 20 - 21st century. Is that a good choice? I've never sent a coin in before and way out of the loop as to how to do this. Thanks, Leslie

Mike Diamond is the President of CONECA.

[Steven]

Mike Diamond is the President of CONECA.

OOOPS how did I forget to add that.:squigglemouth:

[Maineman750]

Is Mike back in the game ? I thought he stepped down as president for a while due to health concerns ?

[launcherimu]

Thank you for the great advice and info. Will surely follow up on it. Leslie

[Steven]

I believe it was in March and temporary until he got to feeling better. .

[amosamos16]

its a little hard to say, being that its a early branch mint, anything possible. i really dont see anything that would make me think its counterfeit, besides not that valuable in that condition. lamination and corrosion are possible reasons about the weight. but again im not sure.

[launcherimu]

Thanks for your input. Good idea about the weight. Possibility.

[georoxx]

I'm not familiar with the term "early branch mint". A little help, please.

Thanks.

-George

[amosamos16]

george it just means or refers to the "branch mints" san fran, denver in the early years ,when they were fairly new mints. during those early years they " the branch mints" as they are sometimes called, had problems with the minting process, being they were new. in a nut shell without getting to technical.

[jfines69]

Philly is tha main mint and the others are the branches... Just like a bank... Just think the branch mints had problems at first and now it appears that Philly has the majority of varieties/errors!!!

[georoxx]

OK. Early Branch Mint. Got it. (Sounded like tea made during the beginning of Spring.)

:)

-G