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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;GDJMSP, post: 1867474, member: 112&quot;]Hmmmm, OK, I guess anyway. Add 1 word to my comment - every freshly struck coin has luster. Pretty sure you knew exactly what I meant, but I&#039;ll concede the clarification. <img src="styles/default/xenforo/clear.png" class="mceSmilieSprite mceSmilie1" alt=":)" unselectable="on" unselectable="on" /></p><p><br /></p><p>As for your questions, &quot;dipped to death&quot; ? Yeah, I know exactly what you mean, but it could still be open to question because it isn&#039;t perfectly clear what dipped to death means exactly. One person&#039;s definition of dipped to death could easily, and probably would, differ from another person&#039;s definition of it. And then there&#039;s the problem with the other part of your comment - &quot;don&#039;t reflect light&quot;. Even a dipped to death coin still reflects light or you wouldn&#039;t be able to see it at all, it would be invisible. But I know what you mean. Is this starting to become clear yet ? <img src="styles/default/xenforo/clear.png" class="mceSmilieSprite mceSmilie8" alt=":D" unselectable="on" unselectable="on" /></p><p><br /></p><p>On a serious note, no, a dipped to death coin does not have luster because the dipping to death has stripped it away. But a dipped coin can have luster, assuming it is properly dipped.</p><p><br /></p><p>Cartwheel luster ? Yeah, that&#039;s pretty much what it means and why the term is used. The spoking effect you speak of is nothing more than a band of light that is being reflected to your eye. The key word here being band, it is the band that you see that represents or is similar to the wooden spokes of a spinning wagon wheel. Now in a more technical sense those bands are a degree of arc, kind of like this - \/. The width of that degree of arc varies depending on the type of coin you are looking at, some are wider, some are more narrow because each type of coin has a different type of luster. Coins minted for circulation have a wider degree of arc. Proof coins have a very narrow or thin degree of arc. But light is reflected from both in degrees of arc and that is what creates the cartwheel effect. </p><p><br /></p><p>Now the reason that a lot of people think Proof coins don&#039;t have luster is because those bands of reflected light are so thin. Nonetheless they are still there. Think of it as two wagon wheels, one with thick, wide wooden spokes, and the other with thin, narrow wire spokes. The wooden spokes are of course easier to see when the wheel is spinning, but both sets of spokes are there.</p><p><br /></p><p>The article that you linked to is incorrect, the author even contradicts himself, but he&#039;s not aware of it. He presents the very same explanation that is found in many books. Here&#039;s the contradiction. He first says that luster is formed because of the metal flowing against the irregularities in the surface of the die. He then goes on to say that these flow lines that create the luster are radial, flowing outwards from the center towards the rim.</p><p><br /></p><p>Now if that were true then the irregularities on the die that he speaks of would also have to radiate outwards from the cent towards the rim. But those irregularities in the surface of the die absolutely do not radiate outwards from the center. What those irregularities he talks about actually are, are die polish lines. When a die is new die polish lines are the only irregularities that are on the surface of a die. And die polish lines do not radiate outward from the center in a circle like the spokes of a wheel. They run in basically straight lines that are parallel to each other, and can be at any angle in relation to design of the coin.</p><p><br /></p><p>Here&#039;s why people get confused, they confuse metal flow lines with die wear lines. Die wear lines are created by the metal repeatedly flowing across the surface of the die. And as more and more coins are struck those die wear lines become bigger and deeper because the metal flows in the same way, in the same places, every time. And die wear lines are much bigger than metal flow lines. This causes exaggerated irregularities in the surface of the die, and those exaggerated irregularities diminish the quality of the luster on a coin. It is uniformity, due to the nature of the reflection and refraction of light, that creates the best, the highest quality luster, not irregularity.</p><p><br /></p><p>The proof that is that a fresh new die has no wear lines on it. And coins struck with fresh new dies are very well known for having the highest quality luster.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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