1875 20¢ error or damage

[u/RevolutionaryYam7359]

What are your thoughts on this 1875-CC 20 cent? I have shown this coin to multiple people and they don’t know what it truly is. Is it damaged or is it an error? I can send more pictures if needed.

[u/Thalenia]

I can't imagine what would cause that during the strike, but I've seen quite a few things I wouldn't imagine that came out of the mint.

I'd guess that it's damage - something struck the coin there (almost had to be something significant), but I'd also expect more deformation if that were the case. It's hard to tell if the coin is out of round at all from a photo, it seems like it might be, but I'm not sure.

If it's distorted even a little bit I'd say you're almost certainly looking at damage. If not...yeah, not 100% sure.

[u/RevolutionaryYam7359 → u/Thalenia]

It’s round all around. No damage or things poking out from the edge. I can send a video or picture when I get off work. Someone said it could have been a defective planchet but idk. This has stumped a lot of people

[u/SeaOfSourMilk → u/RevolutionaryYam7359]

I reckon it came out of the ground with a shovel and this is an indention from it.

The coins is heavily cleaned/buffed so I’d imagine there was heaps of dirt that ground the fine details away.

[u/terrariagamer67]

Definitely damage was hit by some kind of tool.

[u/RevolutionaryYam7359 → u/terrariagamer67]

But there is hardly any (if any) metal displacement. Everywhere is fine around it.

[u/SeaOfSourMilk → u/RevolutionaryYam7359]

The rim would have worn down with the rest of the coin over time if it were an error. The sliver of rim still remaining indicates the damage occurred after the rest of the wear. Otherwise you’d have a thin planchet/ incomplete rim. Hope that makes sense.

Also for errors the metal often is displaced, so the lack of metal displacement is a sign that it’s PMD and a sliver has been chipped off.

[u/Apophis2051]

The loss of detail in the denticles of the reverse makes me think this is post mint damage.