I see spots! (and it's not good!) 1909 proof nickel

@LaCointessa

1 - yes.

2 - no.

3 - yes.

Those are the simple answers. But the reasoning, the explanations that go along with those are a bit more complicated. To fully understand it you'd have to know a good bit about the history of the different minting processes that have been used over the centuries. And it's a bit to much to write out in a single post, so I'll try and give you some of the basic points.

First of all, to help you understand, if you were talking to another lady and she told you that her mother had left her a beautiful cameo ring, broach or necklace, you'd know what I was talking about wouldn't you ? Well, that's where the name comes from. Just like a piece of jewelry referred to as a cameo, a coin that is referred to as a cameo has a similar basic appearance. On the jewelry the bust is light colored, often white, with a darker color background around it.

Same kinda thing on a coin. The bust, and the other devices on the coin (legends, date, eagles, wreaths, etc.) appear to be white with a frosted look. And when I say frosted that's just what I mean, it looks just like the frost you might see on a glass or mug you have put into the freezer. Or, what the grass in your front yard looks like on a cold fall day when you have had a frost overnight. The appearance of the coin is very similar to that. It even has a granular effect to it, just like the frost on a cold object does.

That's a basic description of what the cameo effect is, and looks like. And the thing that separates cameo from deep cameo is merely a matter of degree. Deep cameo is more pronounced than cameo. (And deep cameo is also sometimes referred to as ultra cameo, but they are the same thing). That covers question #1.

To explain the answer to question #2 & #3: Proof coins in the US first began to be produced back in the 1800's, but they had existed in other countries for almost 200 years before that. And while not all Proof coins were produced with the cameo effect, most of them were. But in the 1800's even a great many of the business strike coins, the coins struck for use in circulation, were also produced with the cameo effect. And when I say a great many I'm referring to the different denominations, not the number of business strike coins that actually had the cameo effect. In point of fact very few of them did, but there's a reason for that. For in the 1800's, and even on until 1973, very few Proof coins had the cameo effect either. After 1973 almost all Proof coins have the cameo effect.

But back to the business strikes that did. They had the cameo effect for the same reason that the Proof coins did, because the dies were prepared that way. The devices (all the raised portions of the coin) were acid etched or sandblasted to produce that frosty look of cameo. But as a die is used wear begins to have an effect on the die, and the frost from the acid etching or sandblasting begins to wear away and become smooth, resulting in a brilliant finish just like that of the fields of the coin. And once that happens the cameo effect is gone.

Well the same thing happened to Proofs as it did to business strikes. So only a few Proofs and only a few business strikes were actually produced that bore the cameo effect. However, when it comes to the coins we see today we see far more of the Proof coins with the cameo effect than we do of the business strikes with the cameo effect. That is due to the collecting habits of the public over the years. Simply put far more Proofs from the age with the cameo effect were kept than business strikes were. So on business strikes the cameo effect is somewhat scarce in most cases, but some do exist. And I say in most cases because there some business strike coins, the Morgan dollar in particular, that do in exist, in large numbers, with the cameo effect. But when talking about them rather than saying they have the cameo effect we merely say they are frosty. In most cases anyway, because like I said above, the degree of the cameo matters.

All of that said, when a business strike coin does have the cameo effect, and this applies to all denominations not just Morgan dollars, the coin is referred to as Proof Like (PL) or Deep Mirror Proof Like (DMPL). Those two terms are just like Cameo and Deep Cameo, they are different, and different in two ways, so as to differentiate one from the other. One way is to differentiate the degree of effect, and the other way is to differentiate Proofs from business strikes. CAM or DCAM is only used when referencing Proofs and PL or DMPL is only used when referencing business strikes.

That takes care of questions #2 and #3. Like I said it's complicated and there's much more than that to it, but that covers the basics.

 

As for the coin and possible attempts to clean it, well, I wouldn't in this case. You may have some luck with it but in most cases you wouldn't. There are far too many and of the wrong shapes and sizes to be actual real carbon spots, but carbon spots are what things like that are usually called by most people. The point is getting them off, even with a coin dip, is difficult to say the least. And even when ya do, rarely does it ever turn out well.

(And even if some of those spots are real carbon spots (they don't look it but some might be) dipping will not remove them anyway. For real carbon spots are embedded into the coin, not on the coin. And dipping will only remove what is on the coin.)

 

You're quite welcome, thanks are not necessary (it is what I do) but always appreciated.