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A quick question about grading: I'm looking at the proof quarters from the 2010 set and, on a couple of them, the the hair on Washington's head has vertical streaks. It is readily visible with an 8-power loupe, and not visible to the naked eye - will, not mine at least. I can't identify what is causing the streaking - it isn't scratches. Any idea if that would affect grading? Thanks.

 

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A picture would be nice, but, as you say, the streaks may not be noticeable without magnification. I wish I knew more about the minting process, but I don't. I've "heard" that there may be some sort of solution used to clean the coins at the end of the manufacturing process and the streaks could be result of residue...(sloppy QA)...but that's just a guess.

EDIT: Now that I think of it, the solution may be applied to the planchet before the coin is struck. Hopefully someone that really knows how Proof coins are minted will offer an opinion.

 

Plenty of slop I got in a few sets, some with lint. An awesome bonus!

 

Here's video of Canada making Proof Coins. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BnNAYUPZfF8

 

Ahhh...thanks a lot!!

So it sounds like whoever is in charge of the "hand wiping" process is taking a few too many smoke breaks.

 

OK - I've taken pictures and uploaded them to image shack.


Edit: forum code didn't work - now to try attachments. The URLs are:

http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/690/img1612t.jpg/

http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/829/img1613v.jpg/

http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/21/img1614rn.jpg/

http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/710/img1615m.jpg/

http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/41/img1617d.jpg/

 

Saw that on a few sets, but I didn't care too much. Just looking to flip once things start picking up after the mint stops selling them and they turn into key dates.

 

If this ends up being a key date for the quarters (which I suspect is far less likely because they can be ordered without ordering everything else), I would rather have something that can grade at PF69 or PF70 than something that would grade at PF 65. And since there is a week to return for replacement...

 

True, I guess its the stacker side of me talking. lol

 

That's very interesting! It obviously has nothing to do with the planchet solution since it appears on the laser frosted surface.

Question...what are these pictures? Are they multiple pictures of the same coin?

 

I got my Ten more 2010 Silver sets delivered today :hail:

Checked them all for any problem coins, NONE found :hail: :thumb: :hail:

 

The images in the thread are the same coin (I took a picture, rotated the coin to change the lighting, took another picture,...). If you follow the links, they are of two coins - one with the streaks, and one (for comparison) without.

<Edit> I just sent an email to PCGS; with luck, I'll hear back today although tomorrow is more likely.

 

I was hoping the pictures were of multiple coins with the same streaks. That would have suggested an error with the laser frosting application. The streaks appear to be on the device, only (not in the fields)...that's very curious. Please let us know if you hear back from PCGS...I can't venture a guess.

EDIT: I think we can rule out PMD...so the streaks must have originated on the coin or the die. If they were on the coin (such as rinse residue) I would think you would see streaks in the field, also. I have to think the streaks were caused when the laser texturing (frosting) was applied to the die. however, if that were the case, I would expect to see other coins (of the same type) with similar streaks.

 

I just checked four sets. Most of the coins have some level of streaking, but it can be difficult to hold the coin properly (in relation to the light) to see.

 

There is an excellent article on Page 74 of the February 21, 2011 edition of Coin World where they talk about "laser" die varieties. The one they show is on the 2007S Proof John Adams dollar...where the laser texturing is rotated...similar to a Doubled Die.

There haven't been many of them documented, but they're out there. They're referred to as "Die Varieties" rather than "Die Errors" because "...the defect arose during die preparation and recognizable design elements are faithfully duplicated.".

One of the more famous "laser" Die Varieties is the 2007W $100 Platinum Proof...where the word "FREEDOM" was mistakenly frosted when it was supposed to be polished.

Since the laser texturing (frosting) technique didn't see widespread use until 2006, I imagine 2006-2008 would have the greatest number of errors. I'm not sure if that's what you have, but I would keep it a while if I were you.

 

Silver made a nice run overnight. The melt value of 2010 Silver Proof Quarter set is within about a dollar of Mint pricing now.

 

Woke up and checked spot today... had a feeling the mint was going to pull the 2010 silver proof sets and true to word, they did it. Might have been a last opportunity to pick up the sets at that price. 2011s are next on the list to get pulled as silver is over $43.

 

Ahhh...I checked earlier this morning and they were still on sale. Since they raised prices of other silver products already, we may see a price hike for sure this time. I predict we'll see a spike in Silver Proof set sales this Tuesday.

OK...here's an interesting twist...typically, takes about 2-3 weeks for a price change to be announced in the Federal Register (assuming the Mint didn't do any preliminary paperwork already...which they may have). Let's say silver goes up to about $44/Oz then stalls (as it's been known to do). The price is too low to suspend 2011 Silver Proof set sales for repricing, but does the Mint reprice the 2010 sets to...say...$72.95/set and keep the 2011 sets at $67.95?

I would think that would create a predicament. Does the Mint wait for silver to come back down and resume sales at the current prices? Do they go ahead with a price inversion? ...or do they suspend 2011 sales early and just reprice the whole lot at the same time? :scratch:

...interesting! :thumb:

 

No, in my opinion they would not reprice the 2010 set higher than 2011. And they don't suspend 2011 early.

They'll probably give it a few days and see if prices come back down. They'd like to keep everything on the market as much as possible so they can make the sales.

 

If they would "...like to keep everything on the market...so they can make sales", why don't they? The 2010 sets were made when silver was below $30/Oz...and below $20/Oz for most of the year. The easy answer is because the sets would sell out in 10 minutes once silver reaches $44.75/Oz.

If silver stalls for a protracted period somewhere between $43-$45/Oz, sales of 2010 sets could be indefinitely suspended...given, as you say, the Mint won't reprice 2011 sets early and they won't invert prices.

I agree, they won't invert prices...but I don't think they would indefinitely suspend 2010 Silver Proof set sales, either. That would only leave an early price hike for the 2011 sets.

Of course, none of this comes into play unless the price of silver stalls at an awkward price. It'll be interesting to see what happens. I enjoy predicting a scenario and seeing how the Mint behaves should it actually happen. It provides some insight on how the Mint operates.

Thanks for playing along! :thumb: