Have you ever seen this before??

I came across this Kennedy a few months ago with these strange cracks in the fields.











Any ideas as to what may have caused this? I mean, cracks in the field but not of the devices??

More pictures.



Note the "erosion" flow lines below.







For the folks thinking "die polish", typically, die polish produces parallel lines. Certainly never lines that are perpendicular to each other. Nor lines that form "y's".

The shape and pattern if the lines almost makes me think that the die was brittle.

 

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It looks like it could be die deterioration.

Chris

 

At first glance I thought it might be die deterioration coupled with planchets struck with rolling marks, but the absence of any of these sub-parallel marks in the devices probably eliminates that option. The 'pattern' seen in the detailed shots looks analogous to the rusting patterns seen occurring under the Canadian chrome-plated 5-cent coins of the 1940s and 1950s...

Could this be a deteriorated die, with minor rusting or rust-pitting on the fields?? Which was then re-used to strike additional coins?? (yes, grasping at a straw here....)

 

That's interesting.. Somebody used a wire wheel on the die? It almost looks like the die had fractures all over the high spots.

 

Unable to see the entire coin, my guess would be that the coin was electroplated without being properly prepared and the plating is now cracking and peeling.

 

Clear coat was applied to quick/thick

 

Something is just not right. First, all the marks are not in the same direction. Next, it's as if there is a thin layer of ? on the coin. No date seen. Then, the surface tone, is not right. How much does it weight? In die deterioration, it has a lines from the center out, right? The cuds seem right at the "A' and stars in the last picture, the cuds appear to move to the outer ream of the coin.

 

this is from a damaged die , I have a dime that looks worse than this coin that I found in a brand new mint roll

 

Here's the whole enchilada.

 

Check out Mike Diamonds reply on the CU Forums.

http://forums.collectors.com/messageview.cfm?catid=26&threadid=906373&STARTPAGE=1

Die Crazing: http://www.error-ref.com/die-crazing.html

However, the cracks are in the fields and not on the devices as the web link shows.

 

Looking at the very first pic, I see what looks like a piece of silver has flaked off, exposing under-layer, lamination issue?

 

No. Not "lamination" issues. Read reply #10.

 

Thanks for posting. Love learning new stuff!

 

Is it just me who finds it odd that the example Mike posted (Lincoln cent) has the die crazing in the devices, but yours appears to be exclusively limited to the fields?? Your coin seems to have these raised cracks cross-cutting the radial flow lines.

Just a comment - Canadian dies of that era were chromium plated, and you sometimes get interesting effects in the fields of coins struck by dies with the chromium plating chipped off (Hans Zoell termed that effect as 'Mortar Set' in his 1960s variety catalogues. This 'chipping' cause raised features in the fields.

My knowledge of how US dies were prepared, and how US coins were struck, is poor at best. Were US dies also plated to extend die life?? Could this be a network of open cracks in the die plating, if the electroplating was not done properly??

 

I'll be sending it off to Mike for some in hand examination. I do think that these are cracks. I just have never seen them spread so much across a US Coin before.

I'll post the results if I can ever find this thread again.

 

IMO you are wrong about the crazing only being in the fields on this coin. I can clearly see the crazing on some of the stars , the eagles right wing , the letters in half dollar and on Kennedy's profile.

 

Why does the poster have to be "wrong" instead of you simply stating that you can see crazing on the devices?

Yes, there is some crazing on the devices but not anywhere near that amount that is clearly seen in the fields.

 

What part of the die suffers first? Perhaps the high parts?

 

Because Rascal is NEVER wrong.

 

Thanks for the compliment ...... I don't think anyone can never be wrong . If I do say something wrong I'm big enough of a man to say I was wrong.