Like a dragon's back spread across the top of the cheese. The area along the cow's head is slightly raised, is appears. The line where an arrow is pointing is PMD and the line in the cheese below the spikes is PMD....both obvious scratches when you look at the coin through a loop. Still, haven't seen one like this before so it is interesting.
@keemao Are you sure the marks along the top of the cheese are PMD? If those are scratches, then you should be able to see the "crater effect" where the metal is pushed out and along the marks. On the other hand, I have seen similar marks on CA SQ's that appeared slightly sunken because they were the result of a sub-surface die break that caused a slight recess on the coin. I examined these with my stereomicroscope at about 60x and there was no visible crater effect. I know this can happen because I found many of them in the same Mint bag that appeared on the brim of John Muir's hat and culminated in a full-blown die break at the same spot. There were also a few sunken marks on the right side of El Capitan. Unfortunately, I never found a full-blown die break for any of those. Chris
No, the marks along the top of the cheese are not PMD. I was talking about the scratch from the top of the cheese going down in a kind of curved line. All of the marks along the top of the cheese are raised from left to right. There is one apparent die break bulge on the side of the cheese across from the cow's mouth marked by a red arrow also.
The only thing to look for on a Wisconsin Quarter is a high and a low leaf. Everything else is insignificant.
That's debatable as a generality; I disagree. Here's a clash overlay of this coin: (Image credit, to the best of my knowledge, goes to Richard Cooper) It's within the realm of possibility - factoring maybe a little rotation - that we could be looking at clash artifacts. I don't have an example handy to do any individual study, but judging from the information available (including what sure look like polishing lines on the field) this could be a somewhat-polished ex-clash.
I was not referring to anything like a die clash, which is uncommon. I was simply referring to common errors that occur almost everyday.
I will post pics of the whole coin, both sides, later tonight when I am done searching my box of quarters and see what you guys think. The marks on the top of the cheese do look like it could be the edges of Washington's hair and further looking with the loop and rotating the coin I can see faint similar markings on the side of the cheese facing the cow's face above the other mark I noted with the arrows.
Here are two photos of both sides of the whole coin and then several closeups of the area in question rotated and slanted at different angles of the area. I have put arrows to a few of the areas, especially the very light pointed parts on the side of the cheese that you see easier on rotating the coin under a loop and light. Be anxious to see your responses. Thanks!!
