1982 small date copper Lincoln cent DDO DDR

Sorry for late reply. I will research this and get back to you. Easter and a few other things came up.

Not too many people out here by the way there's no discussion on this or any other coins why is that

Ok so I've not actually seen the process in person but machine doubling would be the term I think that best suits this coin. This happens when the die has a little play or movement in it during the strike, or so I have heard. I've never actually seen a coin be struck by die. But this could explain the ear you are questioning. There appears to possibly be a similar mart near the T in TRUST but the image is just a tad blurry. This error is not the same as a double die error if that helps. If you want you can take another photo and upload it, but from what I can infer from the photo that may be the case.

Both T letters look a little off as well.

If it were a standard double die error you would see double sort of adjacent to these letters. Look at this image we made a few years back for 1961 penny errors you can see what i mean. I could always be wrong however.