I Want To Know If This Is A Satin Finish Quarter
bigd349
Posts: 830
Here are a few pic of a quarter that I won off of Teletrade a couple weeks ago. I didn't really look at it until now. Is it one of these lost puppys that slipped through that I here you guys talk about all the time, or is it ok and all in my head. Here are some pics and you be the judge.
Thnaks
Dave
Oregon D Obv
Rev
Thnaks
Dave
Oregon D Obv
Rev
0
Comments
WCQX
Member
Posts: 57
Joined: Jul 2003
Tuesday February 28, 2006 9:06 PM (NEW!)
I looked over my MS67-68 OR-D and compared carefully to the OR-D SF coins I have and the weaker strike on the legends of the MS coins are a dead give away for me to see the difference. The well struck MS coins have full bases to the lettering and dates and legends but the tops are uneven and not fully struck. Not as bad as the MS KS-P rb spoke of where flat lettereing is common but still visibly different on MS coins. A further look at the surface texture shows the smooth even light texture on the SF coin shile the MS coins have coarser granulation and even the hard smooth surfaced ones look diffferent than a textured SF coin. It is easier to see marks on a coin than it is to look at the granulation of the surface sheen. I have noticed that people that grade coins wearing glasses see surface marks and strikes more clearly than me but often have a harder time seeing the sheen "surface texture" of a coin so hopefully there is something in here for everyone. My OR-D in MS68 also has a tiny die crack that protrudes out slightly from the point of the bust and I have never seen a die crack on a SF coin that protrudes from the bust or eyebrow although I have seen some SF coins with a die crack on the lower edge of the bust but it did not protrude beyond the point of the bust. Here are a few things I have found to differentiate SF from MS: 1) Business strike coins often have pebbly or alligator skin surfaces while the SF coins are without any surface texture except the fine frost granulation when it is present as it usually is. It is rare to find SF coins with no frost at all and yes some of the D mint SF coins have no frost so are the hardest to differentiate. Business strike coins have nice frosty die flow in some of the issues but it is more of a sheeting luster that flows from the center of the coin and not the frost type luster that beams directly from the surface of a SF coin like the halo efect on the SF WV coins. 2) The strike on the lettering and date and legends of the business strike coin especially on E Pluribus Unum is rarely fully brought up on a business strike coin and there are other strike areas to look at after that area is checked first. The top of the lettering on a business strike coin is often wavy and uneven while the SF coin is usually more fully squared off. 3) Business strike coins often have some tiny die erosion marks near the design elements while the SF coins do not. 4) SF coins are almost always much more bright due to the mint using specially burnished planchets for them. 5) SF coins rarely have stains on them because the SF coins are struck from brightened burnished planchets and stored in tarnish proof bags prior to being hand loaded in the mint set injection canisters while stains on MS coins are common. 5) The MS coins often have tiny die cracks in predictable areas such as the point of the bust and the eyebrow on the obverse and of course it varies by state on the design side while a die crack on a satin finish coin is an exception. 6) Lint marks are often present on the surfaces of the SF coin while they are found less often and usually only on very early die state business strike coins.
Not each of these six points will be true 100% of the time but when you look at all these characteristics on a single coin I have yet to see a MS coin from 2005 that held up to all these tests. If you have one I would like to see it. Please provide any more characteristics to differentiate that you may wish to enlighten us readers with as the more points of differentiation the better since we all see coins a bit differently and some readers will be able to spot some characteristics easier than others. dr
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Have one of the top state quarter registry sets. Would like to buy higher graded examples if available please offer. Check out the Douglas Rall registry set to see if you have anything I need. Thank you, Doug