1903 Barber quater with raised "X" ??? Large Pics!!!

Dropdaflag

My friend asked me to do some research on this Barber Quarter. It has a raised X on the obverse. I thought I would start with getting some ideas from fellow board members. It looks to have been cleaned in the past. I do not know what to think. What do you think?

STONE

PMD

Metal pushed upwards as a result of the "X" mark

Dropdaflag

The scratch that runs from top to bottom along the right side of the perpendicular bar seems to go under the horizontal bar.

Doesn't this indicate PMD as mentioned above? Or does it?

I am trying to learn here please post why you come to your conclusions. Thanks.

Sunnywood

looks like two wire segments soldered on ... not sure why though.

PrivateCoinCollector

<< <i>looks like two wire segments soldered on ... not sure why though. >>

CaptHenway

I have seen this so many times that there must have been a reason why people damaged coins this way. It is post mint damage, two intersecting cuts that pushed up metal alongside the grooves.
TD

WoodenJefferson

These appear to be “cuts” #1 first, then #2 second into the coins surface, as already mentioned. The metal from the cut was pushed up in the direction of the small arrows and if you examine the bi-secting point, I’m sure you will find evidence of the second cut going right through the first one.

In order to push metal up on just one side of the cut like this, a knife edge would have had to have been held at an angle and I suspect the cut was made by a left handed person, cutting from 12 O’clock to 6 and then from 10 O’clock to 4.

The reason is not that obvious. Maybe a romantic lover sitting in a booth takes out his pen knife and etches a quarter and gives it to his love for her to carry, who knows.

lathmach

The reason is not that obvious. Maybe a romantic lover sitting in a booth takes out his pen knife and etches a quarter and gives it to his love for her to carry, who knows.


Yep that's gotta be it.
Maybe a soldier going off to war.
The yokel had never learned to write and wanted his girlfriend to have something to remember him by, so he put his X on the coin.
Yep, gotta be the way it happened.
Or,........ some clown with nothing better to do just dug an X, on it for no reason.
A lot more likely circumstance.

Ray

MFH

Interesting - I've never seen this sort of post mint damage before.

BillJones

Yes, it's interesting how some "raised lines" are actually scratches that are created by the displaced metal.

PerryHall

Someone tested the coin with the point of a knife to see if it's silver or lead (much softer than silver). Lead was commonly used to cast counterfeit circulating coins during this time period.