Die polish

GoldCoinLover

Does swirling die polish on regular relief bussiness striked coins raised or incused below the surface of the coin?

JrGMan2004

Die polish will always show up as raised lines on a coin, and is usually straight lines... I don't know about later times, but early in the mints life, die polishing, or die lapping, was done by a leather strap vigourously rubbed over the die, and if it was done hard enough, it would scratch the die... so, when a coin is struck with the die, metal fills into the scratches, and appears as raised lines on the coin... some times, lapping can be so severe, as to take off enough metal from the die, to obliterate shallow details, such as the stems to berries on the reverse of Bust coins... hope this helps

GoldCoinLover

<< <i>Die polish will always show up as raised lines on a coin, and is usually straight lines... I don't know about later times, but early in the mints life, die polishing, or die lapping, was done by a leather strap vigourously rubbed over the die, and if it was done hard enough, it would scratch the die... so, when a coin is struck with the die, metal fills into the scratches, and appears as raised lines on the coin... some times, lapping can be so severe, as to take off enough metal from the die, to obliterate shallow details, such as the stems to berries on the reverse of Bust coins... hope this helps >>




Thanks. I looked with my 30x pocket microscope at a $5 1908 indian gold coin, right under the neck area, and noticed some straight lines, going in all directions. How can I tell if this is die polish and not just flow lines? I've heard that counterfeit coins have flow lines too.

mgoodm3

Flow lines should be in the direction of metal flow and not going in many directions. It seems like flow lines are neither raised nor sunken (evenly both), while polish is raised and cleaning incuse.

astrorat

<< <i>Does swirling die polish on regular relief bussiness striked coins raised or incused below the surface of the coin? >>



Swirling lines are a red flag for a coin being polished and not a die being polished. While die polish lines can appear in a circular pattern, swirling lines (if I read your intent correctly) implies many circles of lines, which does not appear following normal die preparation, or at least I have never seen such lines on a genuine, original coin.

Lane

Myqqy

Swirling lines are a red flag for a coin being polished and not a die being polished.

Not to confuse the issue, but this was a question I raised in a previous thread. There was a section of david bowers book on morgans were he commented on "swirling die polish lines" being common on a certain issue. I had thought that die polish was always in the form of straight, crisp lines, but the bowers book seemed to dispute that........

astrorat

<< <i>Swirling lines are a red flag for a coin being polished and not a die being polished.

Not to confuse the issue, but this was a question I raised in a previous thread. There was a section of david bowers book on morgans were he commented on "swirling die polish lines" being common on a certain issue. I had thought that die polish was always in the form of straight, crisp lines, but the bowers book seemed to dispute that........
>>



You bring up an excellent point. The difficulty lies in making a decision without using precise definitions (or without seeing the coin). Circular die polish lines do exist on genuine coins and are, in fact, diagnostic for some dates, but it depends on what GCL means by "swirling die polish lines". I have seen FAR more cleaned coins with "swirls" than I have genuine coins with them. BTW, which issues does Bowers indicate that such polish lines are common (I do not have access to his book at the moment)?

Lane

Fairlaneman

Die Polish can be in a swirling circular pattern. For sure it is not common but I have seen it this way even on a couple of Mercs. One was a coin I sent to PCGS and they gave it a 66. Another thing to look for is where the die polish ends.

Ken