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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;johnmilton, post: 4666587, member: 101855&quot;]EF-AU sharpness, but it appears to have been polished.</p><p><br /></p><p>One of the skills that one needs to grade coins and spot problem pieces is to be able to differentiate between mint luster and polishing. The easiest coin from which to learn mint luster is the Morgan Silver Dollar. The “cartwheel” luster that you see on a bright, Uncirculated dollar, when you swirl it around under a strong light, is mint luster.</p><p><br /></p><p>Here’s a still photo of the effect. The bright spot on this coin moves uniformly around the coin as you swirl it the light. This is caused by the fact that the metal literally moves when the coin is struck. It takes over a 100 tons of pressure to strike a silver dollar.</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]1150753[/ATTACH] [ATTACH=full]1150754[/ATTACH] </p><p><br /></p><p>Here is a Mint State 1859 Indian cent. It&#039;s harder to see on these coins, but they also have the mint luster swirl when you look at them under a strong light. Once you acquire this skill, you will be a much more savy coin buyer. This piece is now in an NGC MS-64 holder.</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]1150759[/ATTACH] [ATTACH=full]1150760[/ATTACH][/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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