GTG: 1947-S Washington Quarter

I believe she is referring to flow lines. The images have great detail.

 

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Ok. I'll behave

 

Thanks. I agree. Guess flow lines are confusing me. I tried. But the pictures are outstanding.

 

That's a 66. Nice coin.

 

I'm at 66

 

Thanks. Someone said flow lines. Guess thats what im seeing. Are these flow lines as pronounced on much better coins. Lets face it. The pics are great. Sorry. But holy moley

 

Wow you seem to know what your talking about. I just hope my memory stays as good as your explanation. Good job. I conceed

 

He wrote the book.........

 

A man after my own heart. An old friend used to refer to the stuff as 'grading juice'.

 

So everyone sees this coin the way I do. To me it's a lock 66. I really like the light rim toning and the obverse is certainly the strongest side of this coin. ANACS saw this one a bit differently. Too bad the upgrade is not financially worth cracking and resubmitting. I'll just have to live with a beautiful coin in an under graded classic slab. Oh wait, I seem to have quite a few of those in my collection already. LOL

 

I compared my coin to the one in the link above. The Mint Mark position on my coin is too far to the east for it to be a match. It does have some similarities though. One difference that I see is the position of the marks inside the upper serif of the primary S.

 

Great coin, but you're right. They don't jump in value till 66+

 

Two clicks off for this old sod, but it's an old holder, and I'm an old guy, so the two things cancel each other out...........Great thread and learning experience though..........

 

Anacs holders are garbage
Thats why CAC and NGC wont sticker or cross over these pieces of crap. Nothing to see here people move along

 

If you want to see some flow lines, check this one out... Click on it to see the 100% view.

Look around Washington's neck between IGWT and his Adam's Apple.


Look between the eagle's neck and wing.

 

Well everyone loves a surprise twist ending! Didn't see that one coming

To be fair, the coin was probably also white when it went into the holder. Those holders are known for producing the rim toning such as seen here.

Weeeeee! Let's zoom in all the way!

(Sorry Cheech, I wasn't trying to be mean, I was just trying to understand what you were seeing)

So, for people who don't understand what we're talking about with the flow lines:

When a coin is struck, the metal actual "flows" up into the crevices of the die. The pressure of the strike makes the metal move to create the design. The die is made of very hard steel, but over time that moving metal begins to wear on the die. It moves the exact same way each and every time. This moving metal creates flowlines, which are in turn what reflect the light as luster. However, on a very old die, such as the ones used to strike these 2 coins, that moving metal has started to etch into the die.

The obverse of the second coin, the 1943, is actually perfect for seeing the difference between die polish and flow lines. Look in the field in front of George's face. You should see lines in two different directions - one set of lines that goes radially out from the center to the rim. These are the flowlines (normally, the flow moves outward unless it is redirected by the devices. You can see that around his neck, and around the eagle's head.) The second set of lines you can see in the left obverse field are almost perpendicular to the flowlines, and reach diagonally upward across the field. These are die polish lines (and, oh my gosh, they are curved!). You can see some more short die polish lines on the bridge of his nose, and some long, curved lines on his cheek. These are all die polish lines.

If we look at the reverse now, we can see a third type of line which is useful to point out. Take a look at the eagle's left wing. See that long, meandering, jaggedy line that travels up the entire side of the wing? And above the eagle's head, see that line that goes from his head, through M, under S, and connects to the wing? Those are both die cracks. When the die gets old, or has undergone the stress of striking many, many coins, the die tends to crack. These are not scratches - these are actually the die starting to fall apart. Usually, these are more common on later die state coins, such as this one.

All of these three types of lines are mint made. They will not affect the grade directly. Based on the characteristics of these lines, they may change the luster (more flowlines such as these will produce a coarser type of luster, which some may or may not appreciate). So, as much as the luster affects the grade, these flow lines or die polish may affect the grade. But, they are mint-made and considered to be a perfectly natural part of the coin.

Well, my cup of tea is gone. I hope that helped someone understand the various lines and squiggles that we're seeing on these coins, and understand their significance (or at least, where they come from.) Until next time!

 

Well said.