I have a 1927 penny that has a smaller diameter than the usual penny. If I sit the small penny on another 1927 penny the rim of the regular penny is still exposed. Also the pennies are the same thickness, and the print on the smaller penny is proportioned to its size (not normal print). Is the penny a conterfeit? Is it somehow a miss struck? Has anyone heard of a small diameter penny?

Thanks

It was likely modified somehow after leaving the mint. A long time ago I worked for a company that service laundromats and I would find coins in the drums of the dryers that were similar in appearance, after rolling around awhile.

Also possible that it got an acid bath at sometime that took away some of the bronze.

Its not only that the diameter of the penny is smaller put the print also it is proportioned to the coin?

A picture would help.

It sure would be interesting to see a photo of this coin.

One possibility is this coin was "shrunk" using a strong magnetic field.
Click on this link for examples of shrunken coins and an explanation of the process. Wouldn't these make cool gifts?
While it doesn't sound like your coin has been shrunken nearly as much, it could be someone's experiment of this amazing effect.
(However, these coins do get thicker proportional to their reduction.)

There was a guy selling those on eBay a few years ago, he did mostly Indian cents, but other coins like Halves too. The process he used is called spark erosion I believe, where basically high voltage electricity condenses the metal in the coin to shrink it.

All I can say is Amazing I haven't seen that before and didn't know it could be done.

I have seen them in Indian head cents, sac dollars, morgan dollars, SBA dollars, ike dollars, state quarters...and thats all i can recall seeing them in... i remember reading about how he did it.. with Tesla coils and such... pretty interesting..

After doing research over the last few days I found the website for the guy that shrinks coins so I thought that was what had happened but the width is the same as a regular penny so I do not believe that it has been shrunk. I think I am going to take it to a pro today to look at it. Is it possible tht it is counterfeit?

it is very possible that it is a counterfeit/reproduction... i can guarantee that it is not something that came from the mint tho...

here is the link for the shrinking process if anyone is interested....

http://magtheory.teslamania.com/

I have a die that's smaller than it should be. I think it's been shaved to take some off the edge.

Fatcat

Wow! I'm gonna see if I can get a whole set, and if my FIL (electrical engineer) can make it for me! Sweet.