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<p>[QUOTE="GDJMSP, post: 3339857, member: 112"]Thanks. The reason I asked for the still pics is so that the result of misalignment could be more easily seen on the rims. </p><p><br /></p><p>To understand what the dies being slightly misaligned does to the resulting coin, and why that causes a weaker strike, which results in a lower quality of luster, one must first understand that there are two ways for the dies to be misaligned. One is on the horizontal plane and the 2nd is on the vertical plane. Or, they can be misaligned in both directions at the same time.</p><p><br /></p><p>I can't draw pictures on a keyboard, so to make it easier to visualize things perhaps a couple pictures of a die as seen from its edge would help.</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]884512[/ATTACH] </p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]884513[/ATTACH] </p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>As we can see from those 2 pics the highest point on the die is the fields, with the denticles being slightly lower and the outer edge of the rim being even lower than that. These things are the same on pretty much all dies, I'm merely using these pics above because they're the best pics I have to illustrate what I'm talking about.</p><p><br /></p><p>Now imagine 2 dies, one set down on top of the other. If the dies were perfectly aligned the outer edge of the fields (the high points) would line up perfectly with each other all the way around. And the surfaces of the fields on both dies would be touching each other everywhere. And the denticles and outer edges of the rims would line up with their opposites as well. And if a coin were struck then it would be well struck, assuming the pressure was correct, because everything was lined up just right. Metal would flow exactly as it was intended to and a high quality of luster would be produced on the coin.</p><p><br /></p><p>But if there was a slight misalignment in the vertical plane then the edge of the fields of one die would overlap the denticles of the other die on both sides, left and right. This would result in the rims being wider on one side of the coin and narrower on the the other. All by itself this results in the metal not flowing the way it's supposed to and thus producing a lower quality of luster because the metal wouldn't all go where it's supposed to.</p><p><br /></p><p>And if there was misalignment in the horizontal plane, and the dies were lowered one on top of the other, then the fields of the dies would be touching on one side but there would be a thin gap between the fields of the two dies on the other side. And if that were the case then of course there would not be as much pressure exerted upon the planchet as there was supposed to be, which would also result in less metal flow, a weaker strike and lower quality of luster. </p><p><br /></p><p>And if the dies were misaligned in both directions, horizontally and vertically, then the luster would doubly affected, weakened.</p><p><br /></p><p>Taking all of that into consideration, looking at the 1939 coin we can see that the width of the rims are pretty close to equal all the way around. They're not perfect but they are pretty close. And they also appear to be of roughly equal height all the way around. This means those dies were pretty well aligned with each other in both directions, and that produced a higher quality of luster on that coin.</p><p><br /></p><p>But when we look at the 1941 coin it is obvious that the rims on both obv and rev are a good bit wider on one side than the other, (comparing left and right), and they also appear slightly higher on one side than the other, (again comparing left and right). This tells us the dies were not properly aligned, in both directions, which explains why the coin has a much lower quality of luster. </p><p><br /></p><p>And the point that you brought up Mike that if that's what defines misaligned dies then most coins are that way, I readily agree, most coins are indeed that way ! And it stands to reason that they are because finding coins that are well struck and have high quality luster is pretty hard to do isn't it ? I mean if most coins were not struck with misaligned dies then far more of them would have that higher quality of luster. </p><p><br /></p><p>Coins that are struck with properly aligned dies is what produces the higher grades of coins. Properly aligned dies not only produce the higher quality of luster, they also produce coins that are well struck, and coins that well centered, all of of which are individual grading criteria. But few ever think about it enough to realize that all of that is caused by one single thing - properly aligned dies.</p><p><br /></p><p>And when we don't have properly aligned dies, well the '41 coin is an example of what we see.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>
[QUOTE="GDJMSP, post: 3339857, member: 112"]Thanks. The reason I asked for the still pics is so that the result of misalignment could be more easily seen on the rims. To understand what the dies being slightly misaligned does to the resulting coin, and why that causes a weaker strike, which results in a lower quality of luster, one must first understand that there are two ways for the dies to be misaligned. One is on the horizontal plane and the 2nd is on the vertical plane. Or, they can be misaligned in both directions at the same time. I can't draw pictures on a keyboard, so to make it easier to visualize things perhaps a couple pictures of a die as seen from its edge would help. [ATTACH=full]884512[/ATTACH] [ATTACH=full]884513[/ATTACH] As we can see from those 2 pics the highest point on the die is the fields, with the denticles being slightly lower and the outer edge of the rim being even lower than that. These things are the same on pretty much all dies, I'm merely using these pics above because they're the best pics I have to illustrate what I'm talking about. Now imagine 2 dies, one set down on top of the other. If the dies were perfectly aligned the outer edge of the fields (the high points) would line up perfectly with each other all the way around. And the surfaces of the fields on both dies would be touching each other everywhere. And the denticles and outer edges of the rims would line up with their opposites as well. And if a coin were struck then it would be well struck, assuming the pressure was correct, because everything was lined up just right. Metal would flow exactly as it was intended to and a high quality of luster would be produced on the coin. But if there was a slight misalignment in the vertical plane then the edge of the fields of one die would overlap the denticles of the other die on both sides, left and right. This would result in the rims being wider on one side of the coin and narrower on the the other. All by itself this results in the metal not flowing the way it's supposed to and thus producing a lower quality of luster because the metal wouldn't all go where it's supposed to. And if there was misalignment in the horizontal plane, and the dies were lowered one on top of the other, then the fields of the dies would be touching on one side but there would be a thin gap between the fields of the two dies on the other side. And if that were the case then of course there would not be as much pressure exerted upon the planchet as there was supposed to be, which would also result in less metal flow, a weaker strike and lower quality of luster. And if the dies were misaligned in both directions, horizontally and vertically, then the luster would doubly affected, weakened. Taking all of that into consideration, looking at the 1939 coin we can see that the width of the rims are pretty close to equal all the way around. They're not perfect but they are pretty close. And they also appear to be of roughly equal height all the way around. This means those dies were pretty well aligned with each other in both directions, and that produced a higher quality of luster on that coin. But when we look at the 1941 coin it is obvious that the rims on both obv and rev are a good bit wider on one side than the other, (comparing left and right), and they also appear slightly higher on one side than the other, (again comparing left and right). This tells us the dies were not properly aligned, in both directions, which explains why the coin has a much lower quality of luster. And the point that you brought up Mike that if that's what defines misaligned dies then most coins are that way, I readily agree, most coins are indeed that way ! And it stands to reason that they are because finding coins that are well struck and have high quality luster is pretty hard to do isn't it ? I mean if most coins were not struck with misaligned dies then far more of them would have that higher quality of luster. Coins that are struck with properly aligned dies is what produces the higher grades of coins. Properly aligned dies not only produce the higher quality of luster, they also produce coins that are well struck, and coins that well centered, all of of which are individual grading criteria. But few ever think about it enough to realize that all of that is caused by one single thing - properly aligned dies. And when we don't have properly aligned dies, well the '41 coin is an example of what we see.[/QUOTE]
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