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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;Publius2, post: 25737259, member: 105571&quot;]The book you want that will tell you everything you need to know about the Washington Quarter proofs of 1936-1942 (and cents, nickels, dimes and half dollars as well) is:</p><p><br /></p><p>&quot;United States Proof Coins 1936-1942&quot;</p><p>Eightieth Anniversary Edition</p><p>Roger W. Burdette</p><p>Copyright 2016</p><p><br /></p><p>Now, I can&#039;t speak to Washington Quarter proof strikes but I do know about Walking Liberty half dollar proof strikes.&nbsp; The general comments about weak vs. strong strike and lapping of dies to extend their life as they apply to WL halves also apply to Washington quarters for this period of the Mint&#039;s operations, 1936 to 1942.</p><p><br /></p><p>Note that lapping was done to extend the life of proof dies and it involves essentially grinding the surface of the die with successively finer compounds to restore the polished surface of the fields.&nbsp; Because the fields of the die are lowered in this process, the incuse features of the details closest to the surface of the field are sometimes partially erased.</p><p><br /></p><p>Here are the obverses of three PCGS PR 67 half dollars.&nbsp; For this purpose, I will talk only about one element of strike assessment and one element of lapping evidence.</p><p><br /></p><p>The first is dated 1937.&nbsp; Note the Liberty&#039;s left hand is fairly well defined but not completely - indicative of only an average strike.&nbsp; But also not Liberty&#039;s left hand.&nbsp; See that the palm is missing and the first joint of the index finger is present.&nbsp; The other details of the hand have been lapped off.</p><p><br /></p><p>Next is dated 1938.&nbsp; The left hand has no definition whatsoever, a very weak strike.&nbsp; But look at the right hand:&nbsp; It has full definition of the palm and index finger indicating that this coin was struck from an early state of the dies, probably before any lapping.</p><p><br /></p><p>Finally is a 1942.&nbsp; The left hand has slightly better definition than the 1938.&nbsp; I called it Full Strike on my annotation of the coin&#039;s image but it&#039;s not quite there.&nbsp; The right hand has full definition, indicating an early die state probably before any lapping.</p><p><br /></p><p>All of these received a PCGS PR 67 grade but they are dramatically different with regard to die state and strike.</p><p><br /></p><p>I have no doubt that early Washington quarters from the same 1936 to 1942 era suffer from the same anomalies because Burdette speaks at length about them and shows decent photos for each year.</p><p><br /></p><p>I don&#039;t know if a similar reference exists for later quarters but the lessons regarding lapping and strike are universally applicable.</p><p><br /></p><p>Knowing that these differences exist and what they are for equally graded examples is what makes a connoisseur. </p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]1644179[/ATTACH] [ATTACH=full]1644180[/ATTACH] [ATTACH=full]1644181[/ATTACH] [ATTACH=full]1644179[/ATTACH] [ATTACH=full]1644180[/ATTACH] [ATTACH=full]1644181[/ATTACH][/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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