Honestly, can't tell... Your photos are what we call "Potato" quality. As in I think I see a potato... but I'm not sure. /1/ MORE light - We actually have to be able to see the coin /2/ Shoot SQUARE to the coin - when you shoot at an angle, only a tiny bit of the coin is in focus /3/ The most important photo - well lit, square and IN FOCUS is the shot of the entire coin, both obverse and reverse. /4/ Crop out the irrelevant parts like your fingers and the dishtowel THEN you can move on to details, but without the overall in-focus shot... we can't help you. BTW, it doesn't take a $10,000 camera setup - a block of wood and a desk lamp with your cell phone is more than sufficient...
Meow thinks it is a BU coin made from a harshly polished die. Might of had a die clash that needed to be minimized or removed.
Meow has a very unusual quarter struck with a VERY scratched up die. And before anyone says PMD, Meow has three of them that are identical. Three such examples came out of a BU roll.
That ran across my mind as well,the luster on it is still very prominent if it were harshly cleaned,but,I will not argue the opinions because I'm usually wrong
Well many argued and insulted Meow that this quarter had PMD scratches. And Meow might have agreed or conceded reluctantly. But Meow had three identical ones out of the roll as proof it was a scratched die. Posted all three, and still got argued with and insulted for it. Some even claimed Meow was faking it. So Meow just gave up talking to such folk. Sometimes folk here can be dead wrong, but yet blame you for being the idiot. Anyway, Meow has found BU pennies with harshly cleaned dies before, just like yours more than a few times.
If these scratches (such as below 1964) stopped at the bust, I would be thinking that they are die scratches. Since the scratches continue onto the bust, I am thinking that they are on the coin itself.
So in the case on Meow's quarter, someone needing the skill of a jeweler; Went out of their way to deface three BU quarters with IDENTIACAL scratches. So this quarter has maybe over 100 scratches on it. So try and deface 3 different coins with the exact same series of scratches. You wont be able to do it. Maybe a professional jeweler can, but towards what end? And they where BU, and out of a OBW roll Meow opened Meowself. So a board US Mint engraver did it for kicks at the mint?
I am sorry, I cannot comment on your quarters, since I have not seen them. My point is that die polishing really does not reach into the low areas on the face of the die (such as the bust). I think this video shows why; If I am incorrect about that, I would welcome information which demonstrates that polishing reaches into the recessed areas of a coin.
There are times when a die is individually polished/abraded. Here is a video produced to show how die trails occur. https://drive.google.com/file/d/0Bw4Q1NCUjY_aeUFsNUtSMlpLdU0/view I do not know when the individual methods are applied at the mints. Perhaps someone can educate me about that?
OK, @Heavymetal here you go. https://www.cointalk.com/threads/extreme-die-polish-marks-on-wyoming-state-quarter.343553/
I honestly dont think this is a cleaned coin,or a wire brush. Let's look at it again,shall we. The luster is still very vibrant and the lines are oddly too uniform. I have a couple wire brushed coins that do not compare to this at all. I may be mistaken,but let's take another look plz. Look at his ear too....it looks....ddddd...I wont even say it lol
1 more notable point is,it takes some major skill to wire brush a coin without hitting any of the lettering,it looks unscathed. Look at the Y in Liberty and how the scratch completely misses it and continues on the opposite side. @paddyman98 any further input on this?@MeowtheKitty
Meow find pennies like this every so often. It is surely and attempt to polish out a die clash. And with too abrasive a medium or technique.
