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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;physics-fan3.14, post: 6487730, member: 19165&quot;]It sure looks like a business strike to me (I&#039;m only looking at a set of static images, though). The weakness of the strike, the die polish, and the apparent rounded edge all scream MS to me. It doesn&#039;t have the look of a proof coin. </p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>There is a very good chance that this was struck from proof dies - as a business strike. This was very common in that era. Dies were very expensive to make, so they&#039;d strike the proofs they need and then re-use the die for business strikes. </p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>Well, the dies would have also been polished before being used the first time. They had to polish them to get the original bright mirror. Usually, they would then smooth out the polish lines for that mirrored surface everyone loves. After that, if there was a die clash then common practice was to buff it out. </p><p><br /></p><p><i><br /></i></p><p><i><br /></i></p><p>&quot;Die polish&quot; is exactly what it sounds like. The dies were polished, usually with an emery board. Remember, the die is the inverse of the coin, so the fields are the high points of the die. When the polishing tool was used, it would leave hairlines on the surface of the die (hairlines on a coin from cleaning the coin are sunk into the coin). Now, the die is placed on service and all those hairlines on the die leave a raised set of lines on the coin. </p><p><br /></p><p>One of the key ways to tell if a coin has die polish or surface hairlines from cleaning - cleaning hairlines will go &quot;over&quot; the devices, die polish will go &quot;under the devices. A letter on a die is sunk into the die, so the polishing tool won&#039;t touch it, only the fields. A letter on a coin is raised, so the cleaning brush will leave hairlines on the letter as well as the fields. </p><p><br /></p><p>Die polish could appear on any kind of coin, business strike or proof, silver or gold. It was standard practice at the mint to polish the dies if there were problems (such as a clash, or rust). </p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>This is wrong. Proof dies were completely normal dies that were polished and used in a special press to make proofs. There was nothing special about the dies. In some cases, dies which had been used already were polished and struck proofs, and then returned to business strikes. This is uncommon after the Bust era (1836). </p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>You are absolutely correct - the first few dozen off a freshly polished die, or a proof die that was retired, could be proof-like.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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