Minor error on a 1976D Quarter. Help with ID

xbob

The reverse is a perfectly normal good strike throughout. The obverse has this really weakly struck lower left area that almost looks like the die slid when it hit. Would it be correct to call this a misaligned die or something else?

seanq

If the reverse is normal, then this coin is damaged. It looks like someone hit it with a belt sander or grinder. A genuine error which would have a similar look would be a tapered planchet, but then the coin would be underweight and both sides would be weakly struck.


Sean Reynolds

xbob

Sean,

It's not tapered but the it looks more like sandblasted, on lt in the lower left, than sanded. Sorry my scan isn't better. Details are very weak there and theres even some strange ghosting of George's outline on the lower left too.

cladking

I suspect there are two things going on here. First the obverse die was badly misaligned
which caused the left side to wear out very quickly and result in the weak strike and some
die deterioration doubling. Then it looks as though there was some rough scraping of the
in this samee area. If the rim is really ridged as it appears and the reverse is a little weak
in this area then these should be the most likely causes.

xbob

My scan makes it look scraped/sanded but it isn't at all, just a really weak strike but only on part of the coin. The edge reeding is fine all the way around. It's the first time I've seen one like this.

I'll bring it with me to the Baltimore show in a few weeks in case any of you are there to see it. The coin itself is no big deal but identifying what happened is just more of my coin education. It's nice to hear some expert opinions.

Thanks so far for the responses!