Couple questions about different coins

Is this from a die test strike?




Is this clipped planchet?



What is going on here? Both sides of the coin look "fuzzy" and the rim is rounded

 

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1. No. It looks worn down PMD.
2. Looks like a small clip to me.
3. Probably dryer coins.

 

1 and 3 look like damage. I can't decide about #2.

 

About #1.....I feel like this couldn't be PMD....maybe it's just a weak strike or something. The surface is consistent and shows zero signs of any kind of abrasive device ever used. Maybe someone can explain to me how that could happen PM.

I've never held/inspected a coin that exhibits a weak strike or was from a die adjustment so I am willing to accept it if I'm wrong. I just need to understand how you know it's not.

 

Looks like it to me. It's not the look of a coin with a weak strike.

 

In my opinion the first coin may be a die adjustment strike. if you go to minterrornews.com and go to Error coin price guide at the top, than there are a bunch of awesome defintions that will hopefully help you answer your question.

 

#3 looks like it was hammered to make a ring and then they stopped.
#2 clipped
#1 PMD= post mint damage.

 

I don't believe it is. The letters and what ever image is seen are too sharp to be a test strike. They would appear weaker if so. People damage coins for strange reasons..

 

I'm sorry but the word "fuzzy" always reminds me of the following old rythme;

The Original Fuzzy Wuzzy Rhyme
Fuzzy Wuzzy
Fuzzy Wuzzy was a bear,
Fuzzy Wuzzy had no hair,
Fuzzy Wuzzy wasn't fuzzy,
was he? ​

 

Interesting, i did not know that

 

Nickel #1 was defaced outside the Mint. Nickel #2 has a small curved clip. Nickel #3 was badly battered outside the Mint.

 

I'm gonna try and find a lcs that has experience with errors. I really think #1 is a weak strike. They are very common with the Jefferson nickels. It's the least valuable in the field. Look at this picture. The 4:30 position of the U is completely gone but the S right next to it still has an raised edge. There's no way that could happen unless someone used something like a dremel tool or the strike was weak.

 

You just answered your own question...

 

I see tons of scratches on both the obverse and reverse that could have possibly come from someone grinding it.

 

It may look that way but it's not. The transition from normal areas to weak areas I'm seamless.

 

I don't see how it's possible for almost all the lettering to be so strong and the center of the coin be so weak. I spent a lot of time trying to find an image that would support this being a die adjustment strike. Maybe someone else can come up with one. I'll have to hang in with PMD.

 

On a test strike or "set-up" strike, just the very highest points of the design will show. I once had an Ike dollar set-up that just showed the lips and nod part of the nose of Ike. The second coin is a small clip and the third is likely a "dryer coin" or some other rotary damage coin.

 

There are rare circumstances in which you can get a strong peripheral design and design rim and nothing in the center. You can sometimes get a centralized, bifacial accumulation of "grease". A centralized die subsidence (sunken die) error can have the same effect. An extremely strong planchet proto-rim in combination with excessive minimum die clearance can also produce centralized design absence. However, I doubt any of these circumstances apply here. The center of the design was mechanically removed on both faces. It's a common alteration that is here betrayed by the numerous find scratches seen on both faces.

 

I have a 500X digital microscope. If it was mechanically removed there would be some kind of pattern from whatever was used right? When you say mechanical, I imagine some kind of grinder and anything like that would have an abrasive surface that was always moving in one or two directions, but that's it, right? At 500X I might be able to see grooves.

My guess has turned to grease filled die but I had a hard time imagining both sides showing that. The odds of that seem highly unlikely.

I had also thought about some kind of mechanical failure during the minting process being the culprit. Die adjustment isn't my top hypothesis anymore. But if it happened because of the die not coming to full depth then the planchet would have to have a higher outer area than central area, and that's highly unlikely like you said.

I have a nice scale that goes to 100th or maybe 1000th of a gram. I'll weigh it too.

I wouldn't mind sending this to one of y'all that would know for sure because once you are holding it I think you would have a hard time saying it's from anything mechanical.

My curiosity has nothing to do with monetary fueled desires. I only want to know the story of the coin.....thats what it's all about, for me, with most of my curiosities.