Is a weak strike attributable to die rust easy to distinguish from a weak strike from die wear (or c

Longacre

I was looking at this coin on a dealer's site. Here is how the coin was described. Does anyone know how easy it is to tell wear that results from die rust, versus wear that results from die wear, versus just wear from circulation? I thought die rust shows as raised lumps rather than indistinct lettering or denticles (I could be wrong). Also, does a late die state from rust generate any sort of premium with a coin? What do you think?

"This is a very interesting coin. From the standpoint of the obverse it appears that this piece is a solid AU58. The reverse, on the other hand, is an extremely late die state that shows a considerable amount of die rust which has weakened the lettering and the denticles. I have never seen another 1848-O that was struck from this late a die state and doubt if many others exist which shows this reverse rust. The overall appearance is quite pleasing for the grade and there is very little actual wear noted on the obverse. There is a huge price jump between AU53 and AU55 for this date, making a nice AU53 example a very good value, in my opinion."

MAD4MORGANS

Here's some Morgan Dollars struck from (rust) pitted dies;

The first photo is an 1897P and the other two are from 1882 O/S coins. As you can see, the pitting is bumps "raised lumps" as you call it caused by pits in the die.

Personally, I think coins struck from pitted dies are WAY COOL over those "ordinary" coins that are not.

OBTW...both of these coins are SSDC TOP-100 coins!

cladking

It gets pretty complicated.

Much depends on the nature of the rust and the speed at which it was progressing. Dies have a tendency
to get only a thin layer of rust and this will appear as a fine pitting on the coins and can wear off of the die
pretty rapidly. Thicher or heavier rust can peel layers of metal off the die and severely affect the the service-
ability of the die and the appearance of the coins. Coins from these will show more dramatic granulation and
pitting. While such dies will eventually get all the rust worn off there can be extensive pitting remaining.

Sometimes it's even possible to find coins which retain some rust from the dies.

lkenefic

...not to be glib, but it's not that difficult to detect under a stereo-microscope. I would think it would be next to impossible from a picture posted in an auction if the images didn't have close-ups at 30-50X.

Leo

slumlord98

I bought this medal tonight. Some might feel the rust damage is quite noticeable.

1804 Preble medal

fc

i dunno, it looks pretty darn easy to see on the reverse..

lets use "america" to focus on.. how normally there is a clean
edge to the letters, we have pocked marks all over the place.
it prob ate into the edge of the letters on the die,
making the letters just appear odd.

nice coin to discuss. thanks!