Why is the obverse more likely to be beat up?

clackamas

When going through original rolls I have noticed that the obverse gets more beat up then the reverse. One would expect a 50/50 split but that is not the case. Is it the way things are minted? It just seems odd.

nwcs

From what I usually see, the obverse has more wide open spaces for hits than the reverse which has more cluttered designs.

cladking

Most coins are convex on one side or the other and typically it's the obverse. This means they
have a higher probability of being hit on the obverse.

CarlWohlforth

Very interesting.

I see this on many coins. Morgans are almost always nicer on the reverse. I thought maybe it had something to do with the way they were stored. Now clackamas reports seeing the same thing in rolls. Maybe there is something to the convex device as cladking mentions. Hmmm.

BillJones

The open field theory has a lot of merit. Usually the reverse has an eagle or some other main device and quite a bit of lettering around the edge. This tends to protect the fields.

If you would like to see an extreme example of how a lot of lettering protects a coin, check out the Norfolk commemorative half dollar. That piece has so much lettering that it is seldom seen in grades lower than MS-65. All those words protect the fields so that they are clear of marks and rubs.

airplanenut

Correct me if I'm wrong, but aren't coins ejected from the dies the facing the same way? As far as I know, at least with morgans, they went in the hopper heads down, so the face would get more beat up than the reverse.

Jeremy