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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;Markus1959, post: 2339162, member: 73174&quot;]I ran across this paragraph on an internet page about Canadian PL coins using regular (business strike) dies:</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>When striking proof-like coins the mint used regular dies, often ones used previously. The dies were cleaned and sometimes pickled in a bath of dilute nitric acid. The acid bath left a fragile &#039;bloom&#039; that could easily be scraped off. The dies were then polished. This polishing removed the bloom from the fields but not from the devices. When the coins were struck the bloom produced cameo-like devices on polished fields. The pressure of striking quickly caused the bloom to wear off and the cameo effect to fade. The first coins to be struck (maybe only the first 3 to 5) developed what we now call an ultra-heavy cameo appearance. With the pressure and friction of striking each successive coin had somewhat less contrast. Later coins were heavy cameo and this rapidly wore to a cameo effect. Even this wore quickly and the vast majority of proof-like coins do not exhibit any contrast between the devices and the fields, even for exceptional high grade pieces.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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