Hairlines on coins

Rooster1

It looks like just about every thread I read, someone mentions hairlines.
What are they?
What causes them?
What effect do they have on grading?
Does anyone have close ups?
Does this coin have hairlines?

Unknown

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commoncents05

Mostly metal flow, but looks like a few hairlines to the right of liberty on the obverse.

-Paul

cinman14

cleaning of the coin will cause hairline scratches

Goldbully

Definition: Hairlines are thin, incuse (sunken in), tiny little scratches on the surface or devices of a coin, usually caused by slider marks or cleaning. They are readily visible under 10x magnification and good light, and detract from the value of high-grade coins.

Be careful that you distniguish hairlines from abrasion or die polishing marks, which appear as tiny little raised scratches on the surface of the coin. Abrasion marks are caused by polishing the coin dies at the mint, and do not detract from the value or grade as severely as true hairlines do.


Examples: He thought he was keeping his coins safe in that fancy Dansco album, but every time he got his coins in and out of the album, he was causing hairlines to appear on Miss Liberty's lovely cheek from the plastic sliders that "protect" the coins.

MrSpud

Here's a pic of a coin with hairlines from an improper cleaning on the reverse

robec

This might be the hairlines of an early cleaning.

Broadstruck

Rooster1, metal flow and a few hairlines still a mighty yummy ch proof WLH!

Rooster1

Thanks for all replies. Its good to know that die polish lines are not hairlines.

HighRelief

Here is a good close-up of some hairlines that were made when they polished the dies. You can see how they are evident in the fields and do not carry on into the devices.

One can also see the draw bar marks in the high points on the obverse. These are parallel incused lines caused by the draw bar in the final stage in preparing the strips.

Goldbully

HighRelief................those are some biggun's!!!!

I see some nice device scratches, but not as prevalent as the fields!!!!

Hey pics that big.....how could there not be problems to see???

coolest

Hairlines usually refer to the small scratches left on a coin when it has been improperly cleaned.
They significantly detract from both the natural surface of the coin and its value.
Actually your coin looks like it might be a nice Proof coin. It does not appear to have hairlines, but cant be sure from a photo.