Why does Ms Liberty on this Morgan Dollar have pimples?

CarlWohlforth

I'm not sure if the photo shows the small, raised bumps on Ms Liberty's face very well. I hope it is good enough so someone can give me some insight.

kranky

Rusted die?

paigowjohnny

DHeath

Carl, is it an O mint? It looks like a pitted die.

midwestcoin13

i recomend clearasil.

CarlWohlforth

Ha Ha, I need to buy some clearasil..

It is an 1883 Philadelphia Morgan. How do dies get pitted? By rusting? The fields look good. There are some bumps in the hair but they are not so visible. I just checked the Eagle's wings with a loupe and they are there too, I didn't notice them at first. The reverse fields are just fine too.

stev32k

I have one just like that. I wondered what the problem was also - looks like it could be a corroded die, or oil, or condensation on the die.

saintguru

She eats fatty foods.

DHeath

Carl, the dies rusted and were lightly sanded/polished to remove the corrosion. The sanding could not be too aggressive or the die detail would be lost. The pits were not always completely removed. The reason I asked whether the coin was an O mint is because those dies seemed particularly suceptible. I understand they were stored in sawdust to minimize the problem.

CarlWohlforth

Thanks for the info Mighty DHeath!

DHeath

Carl, I've been saving that tidbit for 5 years waiting on just the right chance to post it. Now I'll get busy and learn another tidbit.

DorkGirl

I think that sometimes this is what frost on proof or prooflike coins looks like. I've been playing with the scope looking at frost up close and personal, it looks like tiny bumps. Very interesting and strange looking. Somehow the die preparation causes the metal to ball up. I see the same look even on modern proofs.

cent:

dime:

half:

Morgan:



I've been trying to use it for a diagnostic for proof coins, just don't know where to take it from here But I've had fun looking

midwestcoin13

Send those to a tabloid and call them bigfoot.

CarlWohlforth

Those are totally cool close ups Becky. Is the Morgan a proof? I'm assuming the last photo was a Morgan. I thought proofs were frosty because of special preparation to the dies. I didn't think that preparation included rusting. Perhaps sand blasting or whatever they do makes bumps like the rust does? Are those photos all of the same magnification?

DorkGirl

I tried to google how they actually prepare the dies for proofs, could never really find a definitive answer, but whatever it is, it causes the little balls of metal to form.

All the pics except the Morgan reverse where taken at 60x magnification. I noticed the same effect on a closeup picture of a IHC proof here on the forum which got me to wondering about it in the first place.

I think the Morgan is a proof, I bought it off of eBay as a au58 proof for $80. I'm too cheap to send it in to be graded When I first took a picture of it and saw the "pimples" I thought maybe something was wrong with it. Then I started looking at other proofs and PL coins and noticed that they all had this in common. I have a dmpl 1885 cc that looks just like the one I imaged above. Every coin I've looked at that is frosty looks this way under magnification. Different metals seem to have smaller or larger pimples, and moderns are really small, but still there.