Sheila, are those right over the statue? It looks like it. If so, it looks like somebody at the Mint tried to polish off the statue (...literally; those look like polish marks).
Yes,over and on both sides. It sort of looks like polish marks but they don't look like any that I have seen.
They really scrubbed hard. Oh, but that's what it looks like to me. And I was there, I saw them do it.
You are correct Sheila, the die polish on your coin rarely looks like the thick ones! IMO, it is "micro numismatics" and not worth any thing; yet I want it.
I would call those die scratches not polish lines. The dies are polished on a wheel, and without starting a 20 page argument, which creates die polish lines always parallel to one another. Engraverers have other tools which can create scratches in the die which are not always parallel like the marks you see. Pretty cool coin, and would definitely make attributing the dies used for this coin much easier, but I do not think Lincoln cents are generally collected by variety.
Yeah, it looks like someone used one of those brushes you use to clean the poles on your car battery. Chris
The only thing is, is that the polish lines seem to go under the pillars. Not over the pillars like you would expect if they were done later in the minting process.
The pillars are recessed (incuse) on the working hub allowing the metal to flow in the holes and be higher on the coin. Any scratches (I believe this is what they are) would go under the memorial since the field behind the memorial is the highest part of the die..
Think through the die, the columns are recessed on the die, and the space in-between the columns is raised on the die. So when the engraver leaves marks on the portion of the die that creates the space in-between the columns, it's on the raised portion and does not necessary leave marks on the devices. This is common for polish and die scratches, they appear in the field because the field is the raised portion of the die.
OK, the pillars stand up on the coin, so they're recessed on the die, right? So that's why they still "take" on the coin, in spite of the die polishing. The statue is shallower on the die, so it's conceivable it can be a casualty of very heavy die polishing. Make any sense?
Nice pics.! I have lots of 80's coins with major polishing. That mint employee definitely got the clash! Probably not many like it!
