just curious. and do die scratches usually come at the beginning or end of a dies life. they are ALL die scratches. i have about about 30 of them to verify it. this die looks like it was in bad shape. any one else have a small date with these markers? i looked on coppercoins, but no luck. i cant believe they would let them slide like this.
It can hurt the value. Some don't care for it and others don't mind. I'm not sure all those scratches came from the die.
i will flip them around if you want. the tops and bottoms of the obverse are exactly the same. all those scratches are on all the coins.
I can't see it in the images. Are you saying all the coins have the exact same scratches in the same spot on the coin?
note the purple splotch on abes face in the first and third pic. that is one coin, 2-4 another. its wild. this die is FULL of scatches.
i still dont know WHEN this happens though. at the beginning, or end of the dies life. how does a die get SO scratched up without them polishing it out?
Certain commemorative coins are known for having die scratch issues, one in particular is the Maine Centennial Half Dollar (1920). This from Red Book Professional edition....... "The fields were not completely finished in the dies and always show tiny raised lines or die finishing marks; at first glance these may appear to be hairlines or scratches, but they have no effect on the grade." Mine's got a myriad of the little devils.
once you get your brain to to remember they are not scratches IN the coin, but die flaws, they add character to the coin(imo).
i can see how die scratches would make it a lot more difficult to grade a coin, though. hard to tell whats going on without a 10x loupe. and i thought i read pcgs grades with a 5x.
They do add some interest, don't they? http://whitman.com/Inventory/Detail...k-Professional-Edition-3rd-Edition+0794833535
Die scratches typically come later in the dies life and a frequently the result of a heavy handed attempt to remove clashmarks. Like they used a coarse emery board to "grind" down the die. Usually these areas end up looking worse after the "polishing" than the would have with the clashmarks.
