I was looking thru my quarters and came across two 1967 quarters with what I call "stretch marks". They have little lines below the letters STATES OF AM and E PLURIBUS UNIM. They go right up to the bottom of the letters. One quarter has them all the way to the top of the eagles head and right wing and the other one is similar but has them in the U of PLURIBUS. I took some pictures of them (Sorry for the bad pics ahead of time). Has anyone seen this before or can anyone tell me about them. Thanx for the help.
Sounds like a worn die. (Hard to tell anything from those photos.) Metal flowing along the face of the die will erode the die over time. The flow of the metal is radially from the center of the coin to the rim. These flow lines are corresponding radial. The coin press operator will remove the dies every now and then to polish the dies to remove these flow lines and extend the life of the dies.
Even though it is not worth anything, it is good that you were able to cach that detail, I'm assuming you're not a collector....But it appears you have the eyes to be
That's die deterioration. In some cases, it causes slight doubling which is very often misconceived as a doubled die. Sadly, it is not and coins with these characteristics command no premium. -Brian
Apparently, your quarter had children at some point Quartered since it has "stretch marks." Two dimes and a nickel perhaps? Bruce
Thanx Zach. My mom was the collector. I just took it back up here recently. What gets me about these marks are that they are just on the bottom of the letters and touch the letters. I know I've seen some pic's about coins with these marks, but not sure if it was on the net or in some books I got.
Well I cam tell you for sure it's die deteriation, 100% without a doubt....Do you have a cherrypickers guide?? In the back there is a very detailed section about the different kinds of DDs and things that may seem like a DD. The charecteristics of Die Deteriation, are a deep almost shadow like "puddle" all around the letter(s) or number(s)....
