A couple coins to ponder

cascade

I picked this one up this past weekend because of the color. Is this coloring normal for an indian?



And how does something like this washington get into a PCGS slab at MS65?



'81 Indian

Yucky PCGS MS65

DHeath

Terrible holder on that Washington.

cascade

I'd like to think its the holder, but when you tilt the coin the scratches don't move like other holders I have that are scratched. They appear to be on the surface of the coin. Unless the holder is scratched on the inside.

stujoe

Are the lines raised? or are they scratches?

DHeath

Really, I was just kidding, but the serious answer is that I believe the coin was laquered to preserve it's surface, and the laquer was missed by the grader. I believe it has finally failed in the holder. Just my guess.

Coinmonger

I can't tell from the scan but I will bet the scratches are actually die pollish. I've seen Washington's grade MS66 with heavy die polish.

cascade

I can't tell if the scratches are raised or not even under magnification, but they do look pretty consistant across the whole surface of the coin.

Sorry DHeath, I've never seen a close up example of die polish or a laquered coin. :-)

Either way, its pretty nasty looking.

Flash

I agree.. looks like heavy die polish to me