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I picked up a couple of $25 boxes the other day, from a branch of my bank that I'd never been to before. We asked for "old" pennies, but the teller apparently didn't understand the request, because she brought us one brand new box, and one that was opened. I looked in the opened box and realized that it was all hand-rolled. I figured it was a bust, but took them out to the van. I was certain that the hand-rolled box was going to be 100% zinc, but the first roll I pulled out, and the first penny I shook out was a 1925D. Huzzah! So, that meant that not only did this box have copper in it, but it had some wheaties as well. I took the new box back into the bank and asked the teller if she had any more boxes just like that hand-rolled one she'd given me. She said she had one more. I'm still sorting the second box, but the return on the first box was 23.92% (including wheaties), not counting a 1984 and a 1959 Canadian penny. The wheaties were 1925D, 1939, 1942, 1947, 1950D (x2), and a 1954S.

I'm on the 23rd roll of the second box, and I found this penny with a weird mark on the date. I'm totally new to sorting and collecting pennies, so I was hoping someone could tell me what this is, and if it is anything special.

Thanks for all your help! I'll let you know the final totals on the second box when I'm done.
The_Tallness

It looks like post mint damage to me. The slightly circular lines through the head of the nine make it look like it was hit with the edge of something round.

Yepper....it took a good whack years ago....I like the even toning!

I noticed the circular lines, and I figured that accounted for part of the deformity, but I didn't know how that would create that built up area between the 9 and the 6, or the ridge that goes below it. Thanks for the feedback!

The_Tallness wrote:I noticed the circular lines, and I figured that accounted for part of the deformity, but I didn't know how that would create that built up area between the 9 and the 6, or the ridge that goes below it. Thanks for the feedback!

One explanation is the damage happened in a mint bag when the bags got tossed about. One coin "hit" your coin, ergo the damage.

hey tallness, can you tell me what you took that picture with? I just bought a camera and am trying to get a closeup like that, with no luck!good luck on your boxes!

penny pretty wrote:hey tallness, can you tell me what you took that picture with? I just bought a camera and am trying to get a closeup like that, with no luck!good luck on your boxes!

Tallness' picture is probably a scan (by the looks of it). But most camera's have a "macro" setting for close-up pictures...try that?

time to show my ignorance. what do I have to get to do a scan like that?(first person that replies "a scanner" dies) type or brand and specs please. TY for any help!

penny pretty wrote:time to show my ignorance. what do I have to get to do a scan like that?(first person that replies "a scanner" dies) type or brand and specs please. TY for any help!

Scanner....yeah, that movie was good. Especially when the head explodes.

think the movie was scanners, not scanner. If you also miss an S on any pennies, let me know

penny pretty wrote:time to show my ignorance. what do I have to get to do a scan like that?(first person that replies "a scanner" dies) type or brand and specs please. TY for any help!

A really, really tiny person with a really, really tiny camera, with a normal sized USB cable.

penny pretty wrote:hey tallness, can you tell me what you took that picture with? I just bought a camera and am trying to get a closeup like that, with no luck!good luck on your boxes!

Sorry for not getting back to you sooner. Been pretty busy lately. I've hardly had time to sort at all.

That image was taken with my Epson Perfection 4990 Photo , which is a scanner, not a camera. It gets super high resolution, so I'm able to get good detail like that.

Hope that helps!

**Edit

Oops. I replied before I read all the comments.

If you want to get a really high quality image like that, when you are in the scanner settings panel, in whatever application you use to control your scanner, there should be a setting that says "DPI", "PPI", or "resolution". DPI/PPI means dots or pixels per inch. The higher that number is, the more detail it will get per inch. I think I set this one up to be 1200 dpi. Maybe 2400? I forget. It goes up to some ridiculous number that would make a file larger than my iMac can handle in Photoshop, so I've never bumped it up higher than that.

Shot in the dark I would say the mass between the"9" and the "6" is a die crack .To see for sure look under a mircoscope for a thin line Between the mass and either number.

Can someone explain the green crud that is near the date.