Tradernicks answer on the other thread about about sliders made me curious (not hard to do) about what he called "friction". How do you spot friction on what appears to be an uncirculated coin? Especially a Morgan Dollar? Is it just a lack of even luster across the high spot? TIA.
A break in luster is a good giveaway. Also, a change in color from the highest points to the rest of the design. Here is an interesting discussion on the subject: LINK (click here)
The easiest way to look for wear of any kind on a coin (from circulation, counting machine, handling, etc.) is, as Jody mentions, too look for breaks in the luster. It is simple to do this with the naked eye and the right lighting. Take the coin in question and hold it so that the light is relatively intense on the surface (should be incandescent lighting as opposed to flourescent) and at a slight angle. As always, hold the coin on the sides and not on the surface. View the coin at a slight angle and tip it back and forward and side to side. As you do so, you should see a cartwheel effect move across the coin. As it moves over the coin there will be breaks in any areas of wear. In addition, look for changes in color that will often highlight the worn areas.
All good explanations - but in very simple terms : when the luster is intact on a coin (untoned) and you turn it in the light the color will appear to be almost white or very bright silver. A break in the luster will appear to be a dull grey. This indicates wear or at the very least - friction. Once you see this the first time - you'll be able to see it from across the room It should be noted though that with some coins, particularly very old coins, these minor breaks in the luster will not prevent the coin from being graded as UNC.
And GDJMSP brings up a good point that I will take just a little further. Most if not all silver dollars that were minted (especially in the Morgan and Peace dollar eras) were treated pretty harshly during the minting process. After minting, they traveled down a belt and were ejected into a mining cart. They then were shoveled into $1000 bags using silver shovels. Most then rode horse carriage rides to the federal reserve or directly to a bank. Short version - our precious silver dollars did the hokey pokey in more than a few ways during their trip to the vault. But there are important distinctions. Silver on silver friction will almost always leave a brighter silver streak in the contact areas. And then we have bag marks that are pretty distinctive and we know what those look like. If you see the dull grey breaks in mint luster, it is attributable to metal contact outside of silver. Ergo, it is most likely circulated.
Frequently someone is speaking about two different phenomena when talking about light wear and friction. Typical circulation wear will be caused by soft materials like the insides of purses and pockets and harder things like other coins which can be oriented so as to wear the high spots a little lower down rather than merely what would contact a hard surface it's lying on. Some old coins will show almost none of this type of wear. Almost all the wear will be strictly on the very highest point and these will flatten as this progresses. This wear is typically seen in collector coins and the wear is sometimes called "cabinet friction". It is acquired in many ways from the slides in albums to sliding around in one of the old time coin cabinets. Even vibration over many years can start showing up as friction.
Hey GDJMSP - I have two Morgan's 1888 and 1904, that my dad purchased as UNC many, many years ago. I don't know what he paid for them, or if they are UNC or not. I read that you posted a minor break in luster may not prevent them from being UNC. Is there a tried and true method I can tell if they are UNC without sending them to a grading service? If they are not UNC, I don't want to pay the $30.00 grading fee. Thank you, Jim
There are ways to tell. Hold the coin at an angle and look for any direct lines moving across the coin. The rim is a good spot to look over. If you need a good example, take a coin out of your pocket and slide it across the table. Then compare the lines on the coin before and after.
rugen - You could try posting high quality pics of the coins - I'm sure many would be willing to offer their opinions. But short of actually having someone who knows examine the coins in person - no - there's no tried and true method other than what has been described already
Good info, everyone. The difference between FRICTION and STRIKE can be very minimal and sometimes hard to detect. It's like anything else in life...the more you do it, the better you'll become. Look at lots of coins. READ the info on the different series and learn where to look for wear/friction.
The term "cabinet friction" is accepted today, so, in the sense that the market is always right, we have to factor in this very artificial co-efficient of grading. The term "cabinet friction" was invented 50 years ago (perhaps less), by auction catalog writers in order to avoid calling a nice coin "circulated." To me, wear is wear. I guess the best worst case I can think of -- I have the ad here somewhere -- was an ad from COIN WORLD c. 1999-2000, in which a Trade Dollar with chopmarks was being sold as an "Unc." Well... it must have had Unc details... and maybe some cabinet friction. Michael
For the benefit of those not familiar with the marks which Chinese merchants punched into foreign silver coins to indicate that they had been tested and found real, here's a Japanese Yen with one in the lower part of the field to the left of the "yen" character. These marks can be found on Japanese yen and trade dollars, British and U.S. trade dollars, and the silver coins of many other nations which circulated in the Far East in the late 19th Century. By definition a chopmarked coin has been circulated. Frequently coins have multiple chops - 9 is the most I've ever seen, but I've heard of coins with more. On the other hand, although listed by an ignorant seller as being a Chinese chopmark, the countermark on this coin is an official one of the Japanese Mint at Osaka. The Tokyo Mint put the same stamp in the right side field. The character in the circle is "gin" (pronounced "geen" with a hard "g"), meaning silver. They were used to mark both 416 grain one yens, and 420 grain trade dollars, in 1897 when both were demonetized for internal use in Japan, and shipped to Korea and other Asian nations to be used in international trade. Several years later they were re-monetized. AU examples of these coins are known. (Since I don't collect chopped coins, and didn't have a picture handy of one with a "Gin" countermark, both of these pictures are taken from closed eBay auctions.)
