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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;robp, post: 5222633, member: 96746&quot;]The surfaces are pickled. It&#039;s been in an acidic environment that was probably quite wet for a period to allow continuous chemical attack. It looks like overall corrosion because the letters are thinner as well as the field damage. If you dissolve away a finite amount of metal, say 0.5mm off all surfaces, that means it not only comes off the field or high points of the relief facing the viewer, but the sides of that relief detail too. Consequently the letters will get thinner and thinner as more metal is removed. The A in the reverse legend looks to have suffered badly.</p><p><br /></p><p>I&#039;m further convinced this is the reason because it looks like there is a shadow depression beside the letters on the reverse. You often see this effect on environmentally damaged coins. Although I&#039;ve not seen any papers on this, I think it is due to the creation of micro fissures in the metal fabric when the coin is struck because of metal flow in creating the relief detail. These in turn would allow the ingress of any corrosive substance leading to an area with deeper metal loss.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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