Are rims "unstruck" areas on classic coins?

No, I don't, for a couple of reasons. For one thing strike pressure at the rims is not low, in reality strike pressure at the rims is high. To realize that you have to think about what happens at the rim during the strike in tiny incremental moments of time. The metal at the rim is contained by the dies and the collar so the rim is the first portion of the coin to strike up. And once the metal at the rim touches the dies and the collar all the other metal is pushing against the metal at the rim increasing the pressure there. But because the metal at the rim cannot move anymore, the metal is forced inwards towards the center of the coin. And that pressure does not decrease until the dies start to open, come apart again.

The other reason, planchet marks actually being at the rim is purely a matter of chance to begin with. But that chance is lessened because pressure occurs at the rim 3 different times. One is when the planchet is cut, the very nature of that action causes pressure at the rim and that pressure helps reduce and or eliminate any planchet marks there. Then when the planchet is put in the upset mill there is again, and this time very high pressure at the rim, further reducing any pre-existing planchet marks there. And then the strike occurs, again more high pressure at that location. So the rim is the least likely area of the planchet to retain any pre-existing planchet marks.

That said, yeah there's always the chance that there will be some remaining planchet marks there at the rim, and there's always the chance that some of them will not be obliterated by any or all of the three pressure incidents. But the probability is low for that to happen, given everything else that does happen. So the most likely, the most probable scenario is that most marks on the rim of coins are caused by contact marks.

That is exactly correct according to ANA grading standards, it is in fact spelled out and stated categorically. By ANA standards, no coin can be graded higher than 64 unless it is at least "well struck". It doesn't have to be fully struck, but it has to be well struck before it can be graded 65 or higher. BUT - the TPGs do not follow ANA grading standards. And quality of strike is one of the grading criteria that the TPGs pay less attention to than almost anything else. And this is clearly indicated by all the high grade coins (over 65) that are obviously weakly struck.

This specific point of strike quality being important is one that has been talked about, written about, and preached about by Q. David Bowers more often than just about anything he's ever discussed. He has gone so far as to instruct those looking for coins for him for his collection to give preference to coins of a lower grade that are well struck over coins of a higher grade that are weakly struck.

edit - And CBD - one thing I meant to mention yesterday in my comments and forgot is that with small coins, like your dimes, contact marks are supposed to carry more significance, more weight, when it comes to grading than marks of the very same size and locations do on larger coins. This is standard grading policy. But the high grades given are a fairly strong indicator that this grading policy was largely ignored with your coins - purely because of what the coins are.

 

No, I'm not assuming any such thing. I am merely pointing out that the rim experiences 3 independent pressure incidents, each of which would and could help reduce any planchet marks at the rim. The rim is the only part of the coin that has this happen to it.

And I readily acknowledged that there could still be some planchet marks remaining on the rim after the coin was struck. My point was that the probability of planchet remaining on the rim is greatly reduced, far more so than anywhere else on the coin.

I'm well aware of this. And if you dig into it you'll find that I'm one of the first to explain that. Prior to that, and in just about every book and article you'll find it was said that metal flowed outwards towards the rim. The words that were always most commonly used were - radiating outwards towards the rim. But, it doesn't radiate outwards at all, it moves inwards towards the center of the coin.

No, it'd doesn't relieve pressure at the rim at all. To the contrary, one of the reasons the metal does flow inward and into the devices is because of the high pressure at the rim. If there were not high pressure at rim, far less metal would flow inwards. The pressure is high at the rim from the very beginning of the strike. And high pressure is maintained at the rim because the pressure is contained there. That is the very reason why the collar was invented - to contain and maintain pressure at the rim - and thus help force the metal to flow inwards.

To confirm this all one has to so is look at coins that were struck without a collar, or those that undergo a collar error.

Lastly, additional proof of high pressure being constant and maintained throughout the strike is clearly indicated by any and all coins that show finning. Finning could not even occur unless there was extremely high pressure specifically at the rim.

And if you look closely at the 3 dimes that started this thread, you'll see evidence of minor finning from about 2 o'clock to 3 on the obv, and the corresponding area of the rev ( 3 to 4) on the first coin -




And roughly the same area on the 2nd and 3rd coins as well.







That minor finning would not even be possible, could not occur, unless there was high pressure at the rim.

 

Yup, there's all those opportunities. AND - there's just as many opportunities for the marks on the rim to have been caused after strike, like getting tossed into a hopper/bucket after strike, being bagged up, bags carried around in the mint and then distributed and carried around some more, and in actual in actual circulation before the coins were pulled and saved by somebody.

 

Well, it IS that time of year