I have a 1964 Kennedy half dollar. I purchased it in 2013 as junk silver so a low cost. Yesterday was the first day I opened the bag which contained 5.00 face, all junk silver. If you look at the coin you see these perfectly formed rings on the obverse. I was able to get them on film. If I tilt the coin slightly the rings disappear but they are only on the obverse. I’ve never seen this so no idea how or why this could have happened. Has anyone ever seen or head is this? Any ideas as to causes? I’m not expecting this to make me rich so please don’t go there. I’m just curious as to the rings. @paddyman98 Have you seen this? They are not raised nor cut into the coin. A fingerprint has a different look to it than these circles do and they are not near the color of a print. In reality, it looks more like a security feature than anything else I can think of but I know it’s not that. HELP!!
Looks to me like the light is from the top! I see shadows under each ring! Don't know what caused that for sure but have to go along with the defective planchet theory for now! @paddyman98 what do you think!!!
They're perfectly centered, too, and they correlate with the outline of the rim. Here's a theory. They came off the die. They're obviously not polish lines, as they'd be thin and raised. Could the die have been buffed with a soft pad attached to some kind of rotary tool transferring the faint impression to the planchet when it was struck?
my opinion on this, it's toning. What caused the toning? in my opinion pre-dating fidgit spinners, there were these things called worry stones, and worry coins. in general there were different textures depending on which one you bought, and different styles, one of them being flat with raised concentric circles, another with a fabric pattern, ones with bumps, other with sand paper grit texture, some with spiraled circles to the center, ect. some spun like tops, others were concave, or convex or even flat with a reeded edge like a coin and smooth. it was a keep ya busy toy/thing to keep in your pocket to fiddle with when bored or to occupy your hands I THINK, someone just let the two lay together for a decent period of time, the worry coin on top of the half dollar, and the half dollar got the rings toned onto it. they made them out of all kinds of metals and stones. literally nothing else crosses my mind that would do something like this, nothing in the minting process comes to mind at all. only reason I really even know about this kind of thing is like prayer beads and stuff that people fidget with and carry in their pockets and I was looking into different things of this type possibly as a quit smoking aid. anyways I've had my eye on this one for a few days. kind of geeky I know. LOL https://www.amazon.com/Tungsten-24-...uPWNsaWNrUmVkaXJlY3QmZG9Ob3RMb2dDbGljaz10cnVl Maybe something along the lines of this one: https://obermetalworks.com/sold-wor...h-spiral-and-concentric-patterns-green-patina
The rinds are perfectly centered. Not raised at all. No color variations. I mean I am totally stumped.
That’s what came to mind when I first looked at it. The things that make me question that attribution is that the lines are awful coarse, and shouldn’t they be raised?
I could be that it's a later die stage and the raised areas have been flattened. It might account for the irregular shape of the rings.
Your coin is simply damaged by concentric rings of tiny scratches. Who can tell me the reasons for this opinion from evidence visible on the coin?
Nothing is cut into the surface of the coin. The rings disappear and reappear as you move the coin. What’s your reasoning? I’ve never seen anything like this before.
I been wracking my aged brain cells trying to figure this one out…… C’mon @Insider….. Don’t make an old man wait. My time may be limited!
I had a Franklin half in an informational plastic holder years ago. The plastic had circular magnifying lines for both sides of the coin. It caused PCV damage. The holder looked similar to this: