What up! Is this an example of die polish lines (which I believe) on the reverse, or is it damage or something else? The way the lines do not cross the devices makes me think it is not damage. Then again, I know nothing about this type of thing. Educate me.
Yes, those are die polish lines. You answered your own question. The fields are the highest part of the die (and the lowest part of the coin) so when the die is polished the die polish lines appear on the fields and not the devices because the devices on the die are below the surface.
Thank you Hobo. Does a freshly polished die always leave lines? Or is it dependent on the quality of the polishing? Is my example on the more extreme end of lines, and does that have any affect in terms of grading?
No and yes. If you have ever sanded anything with sandpaper you probably know that sandpaper comes in different grits. Coarse grit is used to do some serious sanding and leaves many lines. Fine grit is used for smoothing and the finer the grit the less lines it leaves. The same thing applies to polishing dies. It should not affect the grade of the coin until you get into the higher MS grades (e.g., 65 or 66 and higher).
I would agree that some, stress some, of the lines are die polish lines. But some of them are not die polish lines. What you always have to remember is that there are several things that can create lines on a die. Die polish lines are only 1 of them. There are also die scratches, which is the most common after die polishing. And then there are die gouges, tool marks, and lathe lines to name a few. And you have to remember that die polish lines always, always, always, share one common characteristic - they can never criss-cross, they are always parallel. So when you see criss-crossing, raised lines on a coin, only some of them are die polish lines. There are also different things that can cause raised lines on a coin besides the things I mentioned above. A lot of folks don't realize for example that a scratch on the coin itself creates not only an incuse line, that scratch also creates a raised line on the coin. This is because the metal displaced by the scratch has to go somewhere, and that somewhere is a raised line right beside the incuse line. Have multiple scratches side by side on a coin, and you have multiple raised and incuse lines side by side. And in some cases, but far less common, you can also have raised roller marks on a coin left over from a damaged planchet.
Thanks Doug. It can never be simple can it? Is it also your opinion that polish lines, raised lines, lathe lines, etc.. will affect grading in the higher MS grades?
