Micro-Numismatics Quiz #8 ANSWERED
Insider2
Posts: 14,452 ✭✭✭✭✭
Sorry, no prizes 
I am going to be posting micrographs of anything that can be found on coins. Some will be easy and some will not. The correct answer is whatever I say it is 
but feel free to disagree (giving your reason) so all of us can discuss it. Images will be posted in this thread at my discretion - several each week. I will usually post the answers late the next day after the quiz was posted.
In order to make this FUN for beginners. I'll ask the "experts" to PLEASE not guess what any of the images are until the next day. Otherwise, folks like (fill in the blank) will get all of them immediately - That's NO FUN. If no correct answer is given by the next day, the "experts" should PLEASE respond. The answer for each image will usually be posted in the afternoon when I add another image.
The Rules:
1.Anyone can guess. That's because even an incorrect guess can open further discussion as to why it is incorrect.
2.The BEST guess is in two parts:
A. What characteristic the image shows.
B. What did you see in the image that lead to your guess.
The Question: What unusual characteristic do you see on the surface of this High Relief? Does the damage hurt the grade?
The Image:
Comments
Appears to be raised lines so I'll guess die polish. It shouldn't hurt the grade.
Worry is the interest you pay on a debt you may not owe.
"Paper money eventually returns to its intrinsic value---zero."----Voltaire
"Everything you say should be true, but not everything true should be said."----Voltaire
Die polish. Albeit strange patterns. Almost like cleaning but as mentioned about, look to be raised lines. The lines pass “under” devices or designs in most areas, leading to a die flaw rather than PMD. The two Tiny intrusions into the ray are polish that got into the shallow design
Edit to say:
I wonder what a thin layer of fiberglass with long filaments, struck through, might look like on a coin?
http://www.pcgs.com/SetRegistry/publishedset.aspx?s=142753
https://www.autismforums.com/media/albums/acrylic-colors-by-rocco.291/
The lines are circular and if it is not raised then someone tried to polish the coin.
Therefore, cleaned.
Hurts the grade, if it grades.
Edited to add if it is not raised.
Those lines are raised. Not from cleaning.
My guess would be die polish lines but I’ve never seen polish lines that weren’t straight.
Off topic: sorry. The polish pattern is so much like fiberglass I had to see and share these images. Would a layer struck through impart swirls on a coin? Not that I think it is the answer of this quiz, I do not.
http://www.pcgs.com/SetRegistry/publishedset.aspx?s=142753
https://www.autismforums.com/media/albums/acrylic-colors-by-rocco.291/
Agree on the lines; wish I could have that coin in-hand so I could tilt.
hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm..........
Does not appear to be any circular scratches on the reliefs and seems to be concentrated to only this area.
Edit to add. Something weird going on with the spike. The circular scratches do go over them, but appears to have been smooth/polished after the scratches were made.
Look at a high grade Pan Pac $2 1/2 gold commemorative. They have the same swirling die polish pattern as this coin on their obverse fields.
Worry is the interest you pay on a debt you may not owe.
"Paper money eventually returns to its intrinsic value---zero."----Voltaire
"Everything you say should be true, but not everything true should be said."----Voltaire
This could happen if the tip was used to polish instead of the side of polisher. To touch up a spot. I have seen similar patterns on aluminum and other bright metals.
Edit to say
Which brings up the question, what exactly does a die polish tool look like?
http://www.pcgs.com/SetRegistry/publishedset.aspx?s=142753
https://www.autismforums.com/media/albums/acrylic-colors-by-rocco.291/
Study of Die Polishing US Mints, Oct 1987
Government Publishing Office, 40 pp.
See page 5.
https://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/GOVPUB-C13-ee06269eaa6c4c3b7c8f3404e11f2ec8/pdf/GOVPUB-C13-ee06269eaa6c4c3b7c8f3404e11f2ec8.pdf
THANKS
Apparently the second design on the bottom is the polisher. The corner tip could make such swirls
http://www.pcgs.com/SetRegistry/publishedset.aspx?s=142753
https://www.autismforums.com/media/albums/acrylic-colors-by-rocco.291/
Am I understanding this correctly -- polishing is performed by a wood then felt pad glued to a steel arbor?
We used to 'jewel' stainless steel plates as a decorative finish with a hard maple dowel mounted in a drill press.
I expect some kind of abrasive powder (emery, crocus) would be used on the pad.
Die Polish.
The circular lines are raised and they resulted when the die was polished. Interestingly, circular die polishing is rarely seen on MS coins for circulation. Mostly they are found on Commemorative coin and the relief (frosted) areas of vintage Proofs. There are exceptions to everything but it makes me wonder if one person in the Engraving Dept. worked on the special coins and another (basically straight polish) worked on the rest.
From a Proof 1951 Franklin reverse:
This shows up in the field on Peace dollars (similar vintage as Saint shown in OP) now and then, but especially on 1921 coins. I'm pretty sure the polishing lines that are left after removing die clashes are always non-circular, but I'd have to double-check this. On Morgan dollars, circular polishing lines are found on Liberty's cheek on 1878 VAM 79, Liberty's forehead on 1883 VAM 24, and others that don't pop into mind at the moment. 1878-S VAMs 29 and 31 and 1921 VAM 5 sort of have these, but they seem to be deliberate efforts to strengthen Liberty's jaw. The many 1921 "Scribble Scratches" varieties of all mints show random, but often loopy, scratches on the upper tail feathers near the eagle's right foot.
Keeper of the VAM Catalog • Professional Coin Imaging • Prime Number Set • World Coins in Early America • British Trade Dollars • Variety Attribution
Here is a 1938-D Buffalo with very similar die polishing in the field under the buffalo.
Thank you all for the additinal pics. To be stored in the ol’ memory bank.