I was showing my uncle coins from my collection and he decided he wanted a Morgan dollar money clip, inspired by a James Bond story. I bought him a 1904 O Morgan off eBay in uncirculated condition, now it is affixed to a money clip and goes through daily wear. I saw it today, only two months later and it has gone from MS63ish to VF25-30, and he doesn't use it very much, only to pay with cash. I was extremely surprised at how quickly the coin wore down, being metal and all, and being exposed only to fingertips. Just saying, thought some might find it interesting.
Silver is a soft metal, and that is most of it. The rest is an assumption. I assume he keeps it in his pocket or coat as most do. Common dust and grit ( which is most decomposed silica/quartz ) adheres to hands, clothing, etc., and when ever the clip moves against the grit, some microscopic grinding will occur. If the pants are tight, the stronger the wear. But that does seem a little too much. What else might he have in his pocket, such as change, keys, pocketknife, etc. as they would contribute. Jim
I've got an ASE pocket piece that I've been carrying around for a spell. It doesn't take long for the wear and tear to show up on the coin. Lots of contact with car keys and other coins take their toll and like you related in the OP, the coin quickly goes from mint state to XF to VF to F in an unbelievably short period of time.
LOL. It's an old pic from my attachments file here on CT. Let me re-shoot it so you can get a better look......
Here's another example for you - this picture was after about 5 years of being carried in my pocket every day.
Yeah, even copper nickel clad will wear down pretty quickly if used as a pocket piece. I knew an older gentleman in the 90's who always carried around an Ike dollar. I guess he fought under him in WWII. I commented on how worn it was, and one day he surprised me and brought in about a dozen worn slicks. He said every 2 years or so he has to buy a new one because in that time it will go from BU to unrecognizable as a pocket piece. It was pretty weird thing to see an Ike without absolutely no trace of design on it, especially lots of them. Either you must have been gentle on that AGE Doug, or this guy was abusive to these Ike's. Chris
Nahhhh, wasn't gentle at all. Never left the house without that coin and at least 4 quarters in my pocket. And I had a habit of rubbing it whenever I put my hand in my pocket. That was even my flippin coin, so it got banged on the table or the ground on a regular basis. That 2002 was actually the 3rd one I'd carried for years. Wear was always the same for equal time periods. The previous two, I spent at coin shows. That one, I sold to another CT member after carrying it for 8 years. But even after 8 years, wear was't noticeably different than in that pic. I suspect the reason the Ikes wore so bad was because they didn't have anywhere near the relief than an AGE does.
Keys are coin killers in the pocket. It doesn't take long for them to wear down even the sturdiest of coins. And, if you're like me and have to carry around any keys made from manganese it will turn your coins, even modern ones, all sorts of colors and will eventually separate the layers. Guy
Yeah, that could be. I was just shocked how quickly it just wore away. You are right, though, those coins looked as bland as Ike did. I vote that coin as the worst coin in US mint history. It had all of this real estate, and puts a profile that could as easily fit on a dime there. The reverse was kind of blah, and to top it off they put it in ultra low relief. I think they studied the St Gaudens double eagle and worked really, really hard to make the complete opposite. Chris
Manganese? Or did you mean manganese bronze? At my last gig, we had to have non-ferrous keys for the MRI lab -- a key getting sucked into the magnet wouldn't kill anyone, but it could sure break things. I can also imagine using them where sparks would be a problem. But I never heard manganese called out as a component. (Sorry, I'll stop trying to threadjack.)
Somebody a while back posted a Kennedy that was really heavily worn -- something I'd never seen before. I've seen ones chewed up by coin machines or run over by vehicles, but the most honestly worn one I ever saw still probably would rate F-VF. (Hard to judge, as none of my grading books or references discuss anything lower than XF or AU for the series.)
Oddly, I find that ASE absolutely gorgeous! I think it looks like a circulated WL half, (I know, same obverse design) But I see it and see history.
Here is a Japanese proof 50-yen coin that somehow escaped from its plastic case and ended up circulating for a little bit before being added to my collection a few months ago:
