Intermediate Quiz: What caused these marks?

Any idea when you intend to wrap this up and tell us?

Just wondering if it will resolve before or after labor day. been about 38 hours since this was started and I dont' know the etiquette if it's a couple hours, a day, a week, a month or a year.

 

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It appears to me to be inconsistencies in the strip material that the blank was punched from.

 

Look, some of you know how I do things. I like to pull the answer out. I asked a question. Thin or wide and not one answer from anyone! [Correction, the old man].
The marks are fairly wide.

I also asked what could cause marks as this:

messydesk, replied:" The marks clearly go in one direction. I would use the word "parallel" to describe the relationship of the medial axes of the different blobs, but not the blobs themselves. They appear recessed, but as they are blob shaped and not striations, they wouldn't be roller marks. I'd say they're rolled out minor flaws in the planchet stock that aren't severe enough to have dark inclusions, but are too significant to be struck out completely. Based on the full-coin picture, you'd get a lot of money for this on eBay."

So, the marks are recessed INTO the coin. The marks are parallel. The marks look like flaws.

Conder101, replied: "They are on the raised features so feed finger abrasions are out. The lines appear to have some lines that are etched separated by lines that are not "etched". The etched marks do not appear to be flush to the surface. Could be something that was rolled into the surface of the strip, or something has selectively etched the coin based on slight differences in the metal composition. Could also be a strikethrough but the linear structure would tend to indicate that if it was the material was on the planchet through the rolling process."

Now we have several comments about things that could cause this characteristic due to the fact that the marks are INTO the coin's surface:

1. PMD
2. Strike Thru
3. Planchet flaw
4. Chemical Etch
5. Lamination
6. Other?

GDJMSP, posted: r: 112"]This is the part that throws me. I say that because I've never seen marks quite like those before.



Some are wider than the others, (and yes I would describe some as being quite wide, unusually wide even), some are deeper than the others, and some have different starting and ending points, some transect raised portions, others do not. There is 1 mark that transects the upper parallel mark inside the plaque, but that appears to be a reed hit.

But the cause, I can't quite hazard a guess because some characteristics seem to indicate post strike cause and some pre-strike cause - and that all by itself doesn't jive. The coin is obviously weakly struck though as indicated by the fact that there is not a single letter visible in plaque box, and usually there is even on well worn examples. But it's also not unheard of for the plaque box to be void of any letters/text either, even on MS examples.

Lastly, what's going on with the E is a scrape/gouge/heavy contact mark, and seemingly completely unrelated to the parallel marks."

There are six possibilities given. Which is it and why. This is not easy because it can resemble a few of the choices. Once you've seen this characteristic on a coin, you will never forget it! Other images to follow after some additional replies.

 

Bacon

 

This should be a clue, right?

 

Roller marks (planchet striations) can be different widths and depths dependent upon the foreign material stuck to the rollers. They can be well defined or they can be mushy. They can traverse the design elements of the entire coin unlike many of the other options.



This could be a weird strikethrough with a very unusual piece of foreign material but planchet striations seems to be the more logical choice.

 

Okay, so, someone put scotch take on the coin.

It sat for years and then was removed, having eaten into the coin.

 

Corrosion of the die?

 

Lehigh96, posted: "Roller marks (planchet striations) can be different widths and depths dependent upon the foreign material stuck to the rollers. They can be well defined or they can be mushy. They can traverse the design elements of the entire coin unlike many of the other options."

TRUE, however does everyone see the major differences between this image and mine? These marks are basically uniform. The characteristic I posted did not come from a roller or debris smashed into the coin's surface.



This could be a weird strikethrough with a very unusual piece of foreign material but planchet striations seems to be the more logical choice.[/QUOTE]

Treashunt, posted: "Okay, so, someone put scotch take [tape] on the coin. It sat for years and then was removed, having eaten into the coin."

We are getting hot. Here is a clue:

 

Looks like glue/tape residue ate into the surface of the coin then was removed with acetone leaving the evidence behind.

 

CircCam, posted: LLooks like glue/tape residue ate into the surface of the coin then was removed with acetone leaving the evidence behind."

What else could eat into a surface. BTW, I have never seen a coin with tape on it have an etched surface when the tape was removed. I'm not saying it is impossible. I've removed all kinds of old tape from cloth to... and nada.

 

Anything acidic or otherwise of a corrosive nature. But how it relates to parallel marks on the surface I have no idea

 

Rubberband

 

I am going to second @CoinCorgi rubber band thought. I once had a coin in a rubber band that left a hideous dark/toned band on my coin..... But I will take it one step further and suggest the coin was dipped to remove the discoloring.

 

I have a Morgan 1902-O Vam 26 with similar marks but they have been described as "Polishing Bands"

 

Didn't agree with my bacon theory?

 

We know that, the question is "from where"?

 

The idea of something corrosive being applied to the coin certainly crossed my mind, but I could not think of how it would be applied in a straight line in a very isolated area. That’s why I thought very shallow laminations

 

Parallel lines, to me it looks like the coin was brushed, whizzed or otherwise improperly cleaned and it would get a details grade.

 

Adjustment marks