Whats going on with the reverse of this Large Cent?

Edscoin

Sellers pictures, Just purchased and not in hand yet.
what caused all the cracking on the reverse?

AUandAG

If there is such a thing as a fractured die that would be the one!

bob

llafoe

That is crackled! Almost looks like it was cooled too quickly?

Quarternut

It is only Post Mint Corrosion (PMC), not die cracks, by any stretch of the imagination...sorry.

QN

CaptHenway

One possibility:

Drop a coin in the mud in an out of the way place. The sun comes out, the mud dries and cracks, and gets baked on by the sun. Over the years air and/or future rain storms wet the coin and attack the surface through the crack pattern.

TD

thisnamztaken

Good example of thinking outside of the box, TD!

kingkoin56

dry lakebed effect

notwilight

<< <i>It is only Post Mint Corrosion (PMC), not die cracks, by any stretch of the imagination...sorry.

QN >>



I'm not fully convinced. Looks to me like the die may have been too hard and brittle fractured (as larry said, cooled too quickly). ==Jerry

pontiacinf

<< <i>One possibility:

Drop a coin in the mud in an out of the way place. The sun comes out, the mud dries and cracks, and gets baked on by the sun. Over the years air and/or future rain storms wet the coin and attack the surface through the crack pattern.

TD >>



great explanation!

lkeigwin

You can see evidence of die damage in other areas of the coin like 11:30 rev rim. My guess is die failure. Kinda neat.
Lance.

jmski52

If it were corrosion, why are only the low points affected?

jesbroken

I agree with Bob about a fractured die. Look how the fracture runs through the rim at 11 o'clock. None of the lettering nor features are cracked. Odd.
Jim

rhedden

I think it's a bad planchet, not corrosion. The surface quality and color are not consistent with a corroded copper. The coin was possibly struck on a planchet of poor quality, and may have had those surface fissures as-struck.

DorkGirl

The crack lines would have to be raised for a die failure. Obviously they are not. Has to be a surface problem.

relicsncoins

Planchet issue would be my guess. The cracks look incuse instead of raised, and do not run up onto the devices.

notwilight

a planchet problem should show on the devices more than the fields since the devices are worked less than the fields during striking. --Jerry

relicsncoins

<< <i>a planchet problem should show on the devices more than the fields since the devices are worked less than the fields during striking. --Jerry >>



I would think the other way, since the metal must fow up into the devices on the die.

AuNuggets

Improperly annealed planchet.

notwilight

<< <i>Improperly annealed planchet. >>



I don't think planchets were annealed then.

Steve27

Leather planchet that dried and cracked

grip

Late die fatigue.

topstuf

Varicose reverse.

johnny9434

i dunno. im not sure if its a shattered die or not

FredWeinberg

In my view, it's not a die issue
whatsoever.

It's PMD, in my opinion.

Not mis-annealed, not die cracked,
not any of the other suggestions.

It happened after it got into circulation.

Don't ask exactly how it was caused;
I don't know - others can come up with
possible scenario's.

Quarternut

Everyone needs to remember that if it were an issue with the die, then every coin struck with that die would show the same characteristics. Anyone who thinks that the die was fractured due to cooling too quickly does not have a good grasp of metallurgy or the die making process.

Planchets can and do show issues after being struck, but it is relatively easy to pinpoint a planchet issue due to the fabric of the coin surface in question.

If this coin were looked at under a stereomicroscope, the obvious corrosion would be seen. The reason that only the fields are affected is that the coin was lying with the reverse up and the layer of whatever chemical caused the corrosion, was not deep enough to cover the raised portions of the design.

As I said before, PMD due to corrosion...

QN

ricko

I agree, PMD.... cannot tell the specific cause, but interesting effect. Cheers, RickO

MikeInFL

I have never seen an as-struck example with such distinctive die cracks, but I have seen at least one that I can recall with corrosion issues similar to the wheatie posted above.

After checking all the varieties of 1848 large cents listed in Grellman (all 46 of them ), I noted none that suggested a catastrophic die failure was present on any of the varieties or late die states.

Therefore, my best guess is some type of PMD (with an outside chance it may have been a planchet issue before striking).

Very interesting coin and discussion.

lkenefic

I think Mike nailed it.....