Error Other | 1945 Wheat - Die Subsidence or Soft Die Error possible?

[jay4202472000]

I am completely unsure what this one is. I'll try my best to explain what I'm seeing and hopefully the images are good enough to show it completely.

The obverse looks perfectly normal to me for a circulated coin.

The top center of the reverse looks like a normal, well struck cent.

Beginning at the U in Pluribus, and the O in One, and moving left, there is a slight, yet abrupt "step up" to the surface of the coin. The letters involved in the step up (PL) are not as well struck as the center letters. By this I mean they aren't as tall, vertically from the field, as the center letters. Then, as you continue left, there is a slightly wavy decent back to the normal elevation of the field. By the time you get to E, in EPU, it's well struck again.

Beginning in the middle of the N in Unum, and down to the right tip of the T in Cent, and moving right, there is a much sharper "step up" to the surface of the coin. The same attributes apply to the devices. The letters don't look as well struck, or tall vertically, as the should be. The only difference is that there isn't a subtle decent to normal. The "weakly struck" look continues to the rim. It even continues through the tip of the right wheat.

The crossbar of the T is as far south as I notice anything. i have never seen this before. Any ideas?

[jallengomez]

I have come across several like this, and have been told that the feeder fingers back then ran in a north-south direction. Makes sense since I've seen quite a few like this, but I've never seen the typical nw-se diaganol feeder finger damage on a wheat cent from that era.

[jay4202472000]

That never even crossed my mind. I guess because I'm used to the 45ish degree angle. I wonder if they were wider. The die damage is very similar, but nowhere near as narrow as I'm used to. Thanks for the input Jody!

[jallengomez]

All that I've ever seen from this era had the damage spaced about the same as on your coin.

[jay4202472000]

Thanks a ton Jody! I did some research and your assessment is spot on! Sooo much knowledge here!

[jfines69]

Cool find!!!

[mikediamond]

This type of die damage is found in cents from all US mints from 1917 to 1945. The depressions are always in the northern end of the reverse face and are usually bilateral. They take the form of die dents, areas filled with linear die scrapes, featureless areas affected by die abrasion, and various combinations of the above conditions. They're presumably produced by the feeder mechanism.

[willbrooks]

We do have an example photo of a wheat cent in the glossary with feeder finger scrapes. Jody diagnosed that for us. I just wasn't certain if your coin was suffering from the same cause or not. But take a look.
Feeder Finger Damage: Damage in the form of scrapes to the anvil die which occur when the feeder finger inadvertently rubs across it. On memorial cents, these die scrapes always show on the coin in a NW to SE direction and until the mid 90s, only on the reverse of coins, as the reverse die had always been the anvil die up until that point. Inverse die installation began in the mid 90s, but thus far there are no known examples of obverse feeder finger damage on Lincoln cents. On older cents, such as this 1944S wheat pictured below, these feeder finger scrapes exhibit in a N-S direction. I am currently unaware of when the angle of the feeder finger to the die was altered. That coin and photo are courtesy of forum member Roller.

[jay4202472000]

I saw that Will. I did an Internet search for "wheat cent with feeder finger damage ". Richard Cooper had an image that came up, and one of the first links was to the glossary entry. Just goes to show how great the glossary is. I'm glad I found that coin. I learned something new. Gotta love it!