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Message:: [QUOTE="-jeffB, post: 1980651, member: 27832"]Picture two dies coming together to strike a planchet. Each die is a "negative relief" of the coin design -- the high points on the coin correspond to low (deep) points on the die. Now, picture these two dies coming together without a planchet between them. They hit each other, with their high points colliding. What are the high points on the dies? The areas corresponding to the lowest points on the coin's design -- in other words, the fields. But since the obverse and reverse designs of the coin aren't the same, there are many places where the design from one side overlays the fields of the other. Since these design areas are recessed -- remember, they're the opposite of the coin design -- you've got areas where there's no contact between the dies. The impact between the obverse and reverse dies forces metal into those voids. So, if a die sustains clash damage, it will go on to produce coins that carry: A faint image of the opposite die (in your example, the Kennedy reverse rays)... ...appearing only in the fields of the coin (there's no contact in the design areas, thus no damage)... ...in an incuse pattern (because metal in the field areas of the die has been slightly "pushed up", and it will "push down" the metal of the planchet)... ...and mirror-reversed (because it's "reflected" onto the opposite die). At least, that's the way I understand it, and it does seem to match your images perfectly.[/QUOTE]