i found this cool looking indian head in large lot of indian pennies i bought recently. what could have made these fine lines? especially since the detail of the coin are superb like Full liberty and diamonds etc. i am not too versed on planchet errors but it would be cool if this were some sort of error. if not i still like it! anyone out there have any ideas?
That is interesting, but if it were a planchet problem, the channels wouldn't look the same in the fields and on the devices. Definitely damage, but I wonder what caused it?
That's different,kinda looks like a cracked leather.I've seen lots of PMD coin's,but not one like that. And hey Rick,if we dont here from you for a while then we know you've gone on a gold hunt and it is a map.lol. Would be intersting to know how it was done.??
I want to say that this coin was buried. I cant remember where but i saw an indian head cent that someone found metal detecting and it had the same cracked appearence. Dont ask me how it happens all i can say is that was the first thing that came too mind when i saw your picture
Looks like the cracks you get with something like drying clay. It's as though the cent got coated with something that dried and cracked, then got environmental damage to the exposed areas, then something happened to remove the protective coating.
At first glance, it looked to me like the coins was coated with something like shellac that dried and cracked. Try picking at some of the edge cracks to see it it flakes off. You could also soak it in alcohol and acetone (separately, not mixed) to see what happens. If it is coated with something it should weigh heavy.
Apparently Craquelure is the term I was looking for. This still doesn't look quite like that, though. It's strange that there are some channels that just end rather than joining another, and it's very odd that the channels are all so uniform. I thought about @ldhair's puzzle suggestion, too, but it seems odd that the pieces are so unevenly sized and that there's no jigsaw tongue-and-groove structure. Maybe the work of the rare (so far undiscovered) Western Copper Coin Beetle?
So like fracturing of the metal or some outside surface because of heat expansion or pressure ? The side views provided makes it look like it was dipped in like color or and applied clay, then heat applied to cause the cracking. What is the weight of the coin ?
