Yet, the marks travel in just one direction, and the direction on the obverse exactly complements the reverse. I started out thinking someone had whizzed or wire brushed it, but once I started taking photos today I think this may be different. Whizzed, or not?
You should be worried that their are marks in the first place!! I would be concerned that the fields aren't smooth and clean - look "whizzed" - that's how I would describe them, plus color of the coin seems unnatural to an UNC specimen! Whizz marks go across the entire coin so it spouts CLEANED!!
You should go look at the "Got Wood?" thread. There are apparently some surprises in it for you. The coin he bid on is damaged. The coin he received is an interesting piece which I would have bought for myself had I seen it. Have a look at Page 165 in the Post Your Lincolns thread.
I thought you posted in a previous thread that you don't have alot of funds to buy coins you would want - as I don't either, that's why I appreciate coin collectors that save for a 50$ coin and not just be able to go out and buy a 1000$ gold piece!!
What are you on about? The coin in question here is a $38 Cent, and the thread I referenced is in this Forum (which is why I used the term "thread"....) and has been running for the last 7 years. https://www.cointalk.com/threads/got-wood.65353/
I would contact him just to let him know you know just to see what his reaction is. His reaction will speak volumes
Looks like the coin you rec'd was better than the ebay picture....keep it and move on with life. IMO, this is a very nice coin, it has not been whizzed or cleaned, it's a woody. It just has a very fine graining pattern.
That looks whizzed. Its where someone uses a metal brush on the end of a tool to remove metal from the surface. Making it shinier. Dealers do it a lot to make a coin look like its in better condition that it truly is.
These are the reasons I don't think it is whizzed, after all. the marks travel in just one direction, and the direction on the obverse exactly complements the reverse. This means the pattern is embedded in the coin and goes all the way through. The pattern continues unchanged in the fields and devices. You can see it continue through the wheat ears and out to the very edges of the coin. It is too coarse. If you are whizzing you would use the finest tool possible. This looks like it was hit by a wire brush from my toolbox. I don't see signs of metal movement. If the direction of abrasion were left to right, then I would see metal shoved about at the edge of the devices and in the fine lines in the wheat ears. I don't see that. Again, I originally thought it was harshly cleaned, and I may have set it aside in disappointment when I first got it. It was only after seeing @SuperDave post a coin with planchet lamination issues (mentioned in post #26, above) that I began to start thinking about the marks in a different way. Now, I am thinking I am lucky to get a very interesting coin, beyond what I expected.
This is the coin Ron is referring to: I believe his is showing similar woodgrain/lamination features, more of the former than the latter, and the features being discussed here can be traced to the original planchet. That doesn't mean I'm convinced the surfaces are perfectly original, just that I think the striations we're seeing are as-struck.
Guess I need to post a picture of a whizzed coin so people can see what a whizzed Lincoln REALLY looks like. The OP coin has not been cleaned or whizzed IMO.
Hey, @Markus1959, I do get your joke! Agreed: Do NOT Google the other thread's title under any circumstances. Especially if you are concerned about what might come back if you are at work. Sometimes humor just does not leap out on forums - it just sits and simmers...
Here are the closest I can get. I took these at a sharper angle so only part of the coin is focused. Note that the wheat ears are sharp, so the lines that travel straight through them did not disturb the surface. I wonder if irregularities in the Planchet could affect the flow of metal during the strike. For example, if some of the lamination effect causes some parts of the Planchet to be harder, then the metal won't flow completely into the devices. At any rate, you can follow the striations right through everything.
Has anyone checked to see if this seller has multiple sales with a photo of same coin? If they have then something is fishy.