What am I seeing on this 1985 Cent?

[Russellhome]

It is not a pretty penny -- but this 1985 cent struck me as kind of odd (all puns intended). It appears to be a raised dent (but I can't tell for sure). It passes in an arc from ONE - around the left side of the Memorial Bld, under EPU and ending at the AM of America. None of the raised areas are affected. I also overlayed the photo of the coin on top of itself - to show that the arc is just about the same as the rim of a cent. So is this a die dent? A planchet flaw? What do you think caused it?

[Dick]

Ken, That looks like one of the occasions when the cent was in the wrong place at the wrong time, and they dropped the whole load on it, and it just happened to be flat on the deck! It sure got hit hard! Nice overlay. Wish I could make them. One day....
Dick

[Bob P]

Ken...You said the anomaly was raised? That would make it pretty strange. I have seen something like this before, but the cause of that was one coin sitting on another and had some sort of liquid spilled on it that dried. If the liquid was thick enough, it may leave a somewhat 'raised' area away from the portion of the cent that was protected by the other one. Just a guess

[Russellhome]

Looking at it again, it does look like a stain. In some places, it is two parallel lines which gives it a 3D appearance. The kicker is that I can see the stain run up the side of the letter A in AMERICA. So apparently, the coin has circulated enough to wear the stain away from the high points on the coin. So into the discard pile it goes. Thanks for helping me see it for what it was.