iscellaneous old coins had been stored inside an equally old mug for decades, and so a Tamaqua man figured he'd sort through them to see what was there.

Lorenzo Guiseppe "Mickey" Padora was doing just that on Friday when he stumbled on an oddity from 35 years ago.It's a 1981 Kennedy half dollar in which much of the face of former President John F. Kennedy is obliterated by some kind of apparent mishap in the coin's production."I went into the parlor and said to my wife, 'Look at this. It was minted this way,' " said Padora.The 50-cent piece is otherwise in good shape. But it's apparent something unusual happened at the Philadelphia mint when the coin was stamped.According to CoinSite, an Internet reference guide, coins can have any in a series of mistakes such as off-center strikes, clipped planchets, cracks and lamination errors.A lamination error is: "A coin with a fragment of metal missing or peeled off the coin's surface. Caused by dirt or gas trapped in the strip as it is rolled out to the prescribed thickness."Lamination errors may be missing or attached to the coin's surface. In the case of clad coins, the outer layer may be completely or partially missing on one or both sides."With Padora's half dollar, the entire coin is intact, but the image of Kennedy is significantly marred.Padora, who will turn 90 on Thursday, isn't sure how he first came about the odd coin. It could've been from his livelihood at Padora's Italian Bakery, where he baked bread for 73 years. Or maybe he received it from hobbies."Years ago I played cards and rolled dice with friends," he said.But he never noticed the coin was special until Friday when he took it and others from the old mug.He said he's interested in learning more about the coin and would consider selling it to a collector."Why would I want to keep it," he said.Anyone with information can contact Padora at 570-668-3200.