1861-S Quarter Struck Through Hair

Manifest_Destiny

Not my coin, I just ran across it and thought it was interesting,

Crepidodera

Very odd! Thanks for sharing Don.

RobertScotLover

I do not believe hair can hold up under those conditions

SensibleSal66

@RobertScotLover said:
I do not believe hair can hold up under those conditions

I know, right?
Maybe metal scrap?

MedalCollector

It may not be a hair, but it was a fiber of some sort.

Namvet69

Very cool. Jute or hemp IMO.

mr1931S

Strike thru. The "fiber" was made of metal. Neat error.

Manifest_Destiny

@RobertScotLover said:
I do not believe hair can hold up under those conditions

Good point. It doesn't seem like it would be a metal scrap either.

mr1931S

@Manifest_Destiny said:

@RobertScotLover said:
I do not believe hair can hold up under those conditions

Good point. It doesn't seem like it would be a metal scrap either.

Maybe the fiber was planted by a mint employee. In any case, to make the impression as it shows on this Liberty seated quarter, the fiber needs to survive the extreme heat and pressure generated by the minting process. No survive, no impression results, in my opinion. Hard to believe the fiber would be made of anything other than metal.

gonzer

Struck thru...a tapeworm?

Manifest_Destiny

@mr1931S said:

@Manifest_Destiny said:

@RobertScotLover said:
I do not believe hair can hold up under those conditions

Good point. It doesn't seem like it would be a metal scrap either.

Maybe the fiber was planted by a mint employee. In any case, to make the impression as it shows on this Liberty seated quarter, the fiber needs to survive the extreme heat and pressure generated by the minting process. No survive, no impression results, in my opinion. Hard to believe the fiber would be made of anything other than metal.

Weird thing to say.

Manifest_Destiny

History shows it sold at Legend in 2020. They call it a kinky lint mark. LOL

FredWeinberg

The Struck-through was from a thread or string/fiber – not any metal,imo

CaptHenway

@RobertScotLover said:
I do not believe hair can hold up under those conditions

Pubic hair could..........

Manifest_Destiny

OK, I posted the coin last night, which was in an auction, and put in a low bid just to "watch" it, and found out today I won it. Oh well, it's an upgrade for my XF40, lol.

ChangeInHistory

@CaptHenway said:

@RobertScotLover said:
I do not believe hair can hold up under those conditions

Pubic hair could..........

You're a naughty boy......well played sir!

CaptHenway

But seriously folks, a piece of human hair caught between a hard steel die and a planchet WILL indent the planchet. The alternative would be that the hair was instantaneously expanded sideways to an infinite width. Look at all the New Orleans dollars indented by small fragments of sawdust, often still stuck into the coin. Even grease, which is by definition malleable, can indent a planchet.

I once saw a 1967 SMS Half Dollar that was struck through a small piece of curly hair twice with a bit of sideways movement between the strikes, with NO change in the shape of the foreign object between the indents. Besides proving that 1967 SMS coins were struck twice, similar to the 1968 Proof coins, this proved that a piece of hair can survive being struck without being obliterated.

The OP coin was struck through hair.

TD

DCW

@Manifest_Destiny said:
OK, I posted the coin last night, which was in an auction, and put in a low bid just to "watch" it, and found out today I won it. Oh well, it's an upgrade for my XF40, lol.

Congrats, I see this as your new avatar!

PeakRarities

I see those all the time on early federal issues, I was under the impression the accepted term for them is "lint mark".