Evening folks. Found this 1996 Quarter in my roll hunting today. Multiple, parallel embossed ridges in NNE direction start in front of nose. The top two end at the middle of the nose, then appear again stronger coming out the back of the nose and up to the eye, then disappear again, and although not shown, they actually come out faintly at the top of his head and go towards the rim at about the "T" in Liberty. This is new to me. I've seen similar ridges on pennies that appear to have been on the planchet because they disappear "under" say the Lincoln Memorial. But how do they, like here, come back at the eye like this? Thanks.
The lowest points on the coin correspond to the highest points of the die. Looks like scratches or gouges on the die to me.
OK, but how can scratches or gouges in the die stop precisely at the edge of his nose then reappear at his eye, then disappear again until the scratch gets past his head at the top and comes back? Shouldn't the scratch be "on top" and thus visible the whole distance? Sorry, I don't get it. These new pics make it look like an acupuncture needle right thru the schnozola.
No, the design on the die is sunk down lower than the fields. A file rubbed over the dies face would no affect the highest designs.
