frogman_5
Contributor
Actually, there may be some value to the penny besides its weight in copper. There are collectors who specialize in misstamped coins and misprinted paper money. Since your penny has the "S" mintmark, it is fairly rare to start with. Up until the late seventies or early 80's when the San Francisco mint ceased producing coins for circulation, it only put out about 3-5% of the coins produced every year. Finding any error from SF is even rarer. Now reality is, your penny is probably worth around $5.
(BTW, it was probably a little glob of grease from the stamping machine the filled the last number in the die. Being non-compressible, it would prevent the bronze [pennies were actually a copper/tin alloy, that's why they last so long] from being pushed into the cavity when the dies hammer together.)
So what obscure, impoverished, former USSR republic were you retiring to, anyway?
(BTW, it was probably a little glob of grease from the stamping machine the filled the last number in the die. Being non-compressible, it would prevent the bronze [pennies were actually a copper/tin alloy, that's why they last so long] from being pushed into the cavity when the dies hammer together.)
So what obscure, impoverished, former USSR republic were you retiring to, anyway?
