Weakly stuck proof Washington quarter?
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As a backdrop, I have been working on a 1941 proof set for my mother’s birth year. Prior to this project I had never paid much attention to proof coinage. I took a stab on a not so great photo of an NGC certified piece. Coin arrived today and I am absolutely thrilled with the color and eye appeal. My pictures won’t do it much justice.
It then dawned on me that the details in the feathers seemed remarkably weak for a proof coin. I checked it against Coinfacts and my take is it’s not uncommon to not have great details in the central reverse. So my question for the group is whether I am off base, or whether these coins come poorly stuck as a norm.
Another point of reference was another 1941 that I had already owned, which seems much better struck relative to the NGC coin. So I guess the second question is whether it makes sense to talk about “nicely struck” Washington proofs. I had always assumed that proof coins would always be well struck. 
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Comments
Honestly it looks perfectly fine to me. These issues had incredibly shallow details engraved into them so I would not be bothered at all.
In honor of the memory of Cpl. Michael E. Thompson
loss of some details from die polish too.
Paper money eventually returns to its intrinsic value. Zero. Voltaire. Ebay coinbowlllc
It's fully struck, the dies on these coins were often over polished which leads to loss of detail. Essentially that coin has all the details the dies had, it's just the dies weren't very detailed to begin with.
Coin Photography
It looks strongly stuck to me, as are most coins in TPG holders. 🙃
Superb collections are built more by omission than by addition.
This. Many of the finer details get polished away on the die.
Unfamiliar with that year of proof I also thought it looked kind of weak.
But after searching CoinFacts and seeing this one in 68+ which looks weaker than yours on the breast. I think you’re gonna be just fine.
You can read about 1941 proof die polishing (and other years) in the book United States Proof Coins 1936-1942. Multiple adjustments were made in Washington quarter master dies, but nothing corrected the fundamental problems inherent in the design. As finally seen coined, it is apparent that Laura Fraser's 1932 design was far superior.
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Mark Feld* of Heritage Auctions*Unless otherwise noted, my posts here represent my personal opinions.
Hey dere!
How's the 1922 book doing? Sold out yet?
Unfortunately the proof quarters of this era are commonly struck from over-polished dies. Although, I have found the 1938 issue to be of higher quality more often than the other years. Maybe that's just coincidental.
Collector, occasional seller