Question about possible mint damage coin
clarkbar04
Posts: 4,976 ✭✭✭✭✭
The gouges on this coin look like it is possibly due to rusted or pitted dies, but I wanted to get the board's opinion.
MS66 taste on an MS63 budget.
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8 Reales Madness Collection
I am pretty sure that is pre-strike damage. Planchet flaws. Not uncommon on 18th and 19th century Russian coins, I'd venture to say.
Edit: then again, I'm not so sure, after looking at the eagle's wing. I suppose it is still possible that those pits and craters there are planchet flaws (voids) that were not entirely struck up, but it would need to be examined under magnification. Hard to say.
<< <i>It looks like environmental damage, but I don't believe it is.
I am pretty sure that is pre-strike damage. Planchet flaws. Not uncommon on 18th and 19th century Russian coins, I'd venture to say. >>
This is what I was thinking too. The rest of the coin looks too nice for it to be post mint damage.
It could be a combination of both planchet flaws AND a little post-mint knockaround damage. Certainly those edge hits have gotta be post-mint.
However, I have seen several Russian coppers with planchet flaws that sort of looked like this, with gaps and voids and small craters in them.
They're cool coins- big and fat and thick and hefty, like their 18th century counterparts, but of a more uniform thickness and roundness.
The planchet flaws (or whatever) wouldn't prevent me from buying that one if the price was cheap, but you're right- there are plenty of nicer ones out there to be found.
From what little I've seen of russian coins, they were made rather crudely for a long time. I've seen an 1840 1 kopek that looks like it could've been made in the 1600s or 1700s. Planchet out of round, off center strike, and a basic design.