What happened to the surface under the bell on the reverse???? Looks almost like a penny that has bubbled up????
Interesting. I'm guessing a planchet problem rather than a die problem. Proof dies are usually given very special care and have a relatively short live (in the range of just a few thousand coins for modern Proof dies) so I think we can rule out a rusted die. (Anyway, the imperfections appear to be incused on the coin and a rusted die would produce raised splotches on the coin.) And if a die produced several coins with this same imperfection other examples would be known and would probably be listed in a variety book somewhere. Another reason I think it is a planchet problem rather than a die problem is that the problem would have probably been detected rather quickly if the die was producing multiple coins with the same imperfection and taken out of the die press and the affected Proof coins would likely have been found and destroyed. I think it would be more likely that one planchet with imperfections (e.g., a pitted surface) could slip past the QC controls, especially when the imperfections end up on the reverse of the coin after it was struck.
If you look close under DRW there seems to be something other than that it just looks like an orange peel.
The QA at the mint isn't always 100% perfect, I mean, they do allow error coins to be released when they're not suppose to be released.
because i would think that if the die was forming the smooth mirror like surface, that it would not be possible for the Plachette to create this problem, but I admit to being completely ignorant as to whether that is the case or not. i was thinking that maybe if was uneven pressure??
I dunno, might have been a planchet problem. But it also might have been something as simple as dirt & grit stuck in a spot of oil on the die. When the image is blown up completely you can see a few raised bumps next to the A and in between the D and O. And the tops of the letters themselves in ONE DOLLAR are pretty bumpy. And there is some light scattered pitting on each side of the bell, and a little on the bell itself. I'm more inclined to go with the theory of dirt, grit and oil than a planchet problem largely because the fields, which is the area most greatly affected by the pitting, is also the area that is under the greatest pressure from the dies. The fields are also where you have the most metal flow. It is metal from the fields that flows away to fill the devices and legends in the die. So any pitting on the planchet would have to be really, really deep for any of it to remain in the fields after the coin is struck. And I just have a hard time imagining how a Proof planchet with pitting that bad and that deep,that goes through special preparation and polishing, could get by the inspection process and not be seen and rejected before being struck. Anyway, that's my thinking.
That is interesting to read because i was more or less moving my thinking in that direction the more I looked at it. I didn't have the specific details you had expressed so you filled in the gap of what possibly happened here. But i was thinking when the die strikes, the metal has to flow on the strike. Even if it was slightly pitted, I would think it would smooth out. Ruben
My inititial thought is something to do with polishing the die, ie grease, polishing cloth, etc. left in the die. The roughness seems to extend across the letters E DOLL to the edge of the coin. Looks like GDJMSP saw something similar. I have a habit of writing before I see all the responses.