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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;GDJMSP, post: 101121, member: 112&quot;]There seems to be some confusion here. A coin being dipped doesn&#039;t create luster - dipping removes luster. And just because a coin is blast white, that doesn&#039;t mean it has luster at all. </p><p><br /></p><p>Your comment seems to indicate to me that you equate cartwheel luster, or a high degree of luster, with a coin being blast white. That is not the case at all - not even close. Even a heavily toned coin can have cartwheel luster. See the reverse of that &#039;79-S SuperDave posted - <b>that</b> coin has cartwheel luster. Now his dipping the coin may have made the luster more visible, but it has also removed a certain portion of the luster that was there originally.</p><p><br /></p><p>Luster is the microscopic flow lines in the metal of a coin created by the striking of the coin. Before a planchet is struck it is flat except for the rim. When the dies strike the coin, the metal actually moves, flows into the recesses of the coin die. It is this movement of the metal across the surfaces of the die that creates the flow lines. And these microscopic flowlines in turn reflect light in a very diffused manner - it is the reflection of the light that is luster.</p><p><br /></p><p>Some coins can be totally blast white and yet have no luster at all. That is because when you dip a coin, the acid in the dip that removes the toning also removes microscopic particles of metal from the coin - it removes the flowlines. If you were to look at a coin, one with full luster, under high magnification what the surface of the coin would look like is something like this - /\/\/\/\/\/\/\.&nbsp; Those are the flowlines and it is the different angles that reflects the light in a diffused manner and create the luster or cartwheel effect. But if you dip a coin that same surface will now look like this - <font size="1">/\/\/\/\/\</font> and this greatly reduces the luster. And if you over-dip a coin it will look like this - ______________&nbsp; and there will be no luster at all.</p><p><br /></p><p>With an uncirculated toned coin, those flowlines are still there and it looks just like this - /\/\/\/\/\/\/\ but sometimes the toning, if heavy enough, can fill in the valleys between the flowlines and reduce the effect of the luster. But if it is not heavy, the toning just covers the flowlines in a thin even layer and reflects the light in different colors just like a prism. The toning in fact acts as a prism which is what produces the colors. And the luster is not affected at all except it&#039;s not white anymore.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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