Annealing issues confuse me. The reverse looks environmental, but the front is a puzzler for me. What say you?
I've never been one to argue with you and the reverse is environmental. But the obverse looks more like a possibly defective planchet. Some of those lines look raised in the photo. Not prepared properly? But then again, photos can be deceiving.
They appears to me to be striation lines. Just my opinion. striations Term for the incuse polish lines on the die which result in raised lines on coins. These are usually fine, parallel lines though on some coins they are swirling, still others with criss-cross lines. Planchet striations are burnishing lines not struck away by the minting process and are incuse on the coins.
I thought about this and the die earlier but was not sure. But it certainly seems plausible as the striations also appear on the bust and not just in the fields.
The problem with the obverse looking like a woody is this, on a copper cent it has gone through the planchet and the entire coin. This quarter is clad, and what we are seeing on the thin outer layer, probably does not go through the copper core, so not an improperly annealed planchet, (or incorrect alloy mixture) which is easier to determine on nickels and pennies.