2016-08-18 Thu

A 2000-D Lincoln cent was counter-stamped outside the Denver Mint with an outline of the state of South Dakota with the postal code, SD.

The extra design was not minted on the coin at the time of production. It was privately produced outside the Mint production facility. The “semi-regular” outline of the Western state is oriented counter-clockwise due to space crunch. The counter-stamped cent is an altered U.S. Mint product which is not valued more than the coin’s actual face value.

Complete sets of Lincoln cents, counter-stamped with the postal abbreviations for 50 states are also available. Other coins like these feature a portrait left of President John F. Kennedy in the right field of the coin’s obverse, facing Lincoln. Some are stamped with the Batman bat logo, Lincoln smoking a pipe, a Masonic Shriner scimatar emblem, and a number of designs depicting the lunar rover.

Treasury officials have earlier banned some of these alterations. As long as the coins are not issued for fraud and can be legally circulated even after defacement, such alterations are allowed.