Morgan 1891 - notoriously weak strike?

Certainly not my intention to do so. All I try to do is to explain things in plain English so that anybody reading it can follow my reasoning and understand what is happening during the strike process.

And as I said before, but not in these exact words, if you disagree then all I can say we'll have to agree to disagree.

 

Good thread.

I concur that the majority of the weakness of the lettering was caused by insufficient striking pressure. Some also appears to be from localized buckling of the die.

It also looks to me like mint luster is missing from some of the subject letting in this discussion.

The weakness of the letters is not solely attributable to strike pressure and / or die details.

 

You got the idea The detail simply cannot be there because the metal on the top of that leaf never touched the die. And the reason that leaf has the texture to it is due to the same thing, and because the metal does not, simply cannot lift in a single flat plane. When metal is flowing it sorta bubbles up kind of like lava does - if and until it touches a hard surface for it to flow against and take on the shape of that surface.

Which of course brings up a point that Mike raised, weakly stuck areas will never have luster. Which of course is another tell-tale of a weak strike. And, what's more, the textured surface will be of a different color than wear. Wear is always slightly darker than an area that was weakly struck. Of course, neither one will have luster - but for different reasons. With wear, the luster is worn away, with weak strike the luster never gets a chance to exist because the metal never touches the die.