QUIZ: Why are the details missing on the Indian's head?

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This is from a grease filled die.
Seeing the detail around the perimeter, pretty much seals the deal.
I would expect that the reverse is very well struck.

 

If both sides look like the obv. I would want more definitive photos to give an educated answer.

 

IMO, if both sides look like the obverse, then there could be the fourth possibility of a defective/thin planchet.

But based on the info we have, I really think grease is the only answer, but I'm no expert by any means.

 

A thin planchet wouldn't have strongly struck detail near the rims. If the planchet were thin only in the middle, you might get this effect, but I still think the detail near the rim would be weak, since the planchet wouldn't be pushed to spread outward the same as a normal planchet.

 

Yeah, that's why I ruled that out in my earlier post

I just reread my last post, and well, it makes no sense to have said that.

 

Not true. If there is not enough metal to fill the dies it will not go to only one side - what is pushing against it to make it fill the other die?

 

Yes.

 

I suppose there could be gunk in both dies, so a weak reverse could indicate either that or an overall incorrect adjustment of the press for the planchet in question. But a strong reverse strike would indicate something else going on with the obverse.

 

Now that I think about it, you're right. A greaser would only affect one side. I don't know what I was thinking.

 

One thing I've observed is that if one die has a lot of schmutz on it, the other one tends to as well.

 

messydesk, posted: "One thing I've observed is that if one die has a lot of schmutz on it, the other one tends to as well."

A lot of good answers/thinking in this thread.

What is "schmutz." Sawdust struck through particles. Grease like soft debris? I have not noticed this except for possibly small patches. This is big "schmutz!"

The coin is very weakly struck. I'll explain why when I post the reverse Monday.

 

Late obverse die cap?
http://www.error-ref.com/?s=Late+die+cap
Guessing without the reverse picture.

 

You are over-thinking something that is very simple.

 

If it is indeed a weak strike, wouldn't how the coin looks depend on what caused the weak strike? Would the gap between the dies being off look different than the pressure being not strong enough?

 

Are we waiting for aliens to chime in b4 the reveal?

 

I also thought it would have been a whole lots of grease, but (based on the image provided) I still would lean towards grease (gunk) filled die.

Why would I still think that?

Because from what I know/understand, when a planchet isn't fully or well struck there are imperfections on the planchet that don't get 'struck out', and are clearly visible on the coin.

Here is one of my (somewhat) weakly struck Booker T Washington's that shows the planchet imperfections quite clearly. This is graded MS66 (NGC):



Now if we look closer at the high points of the coin (most of BTW's face), we see all the raw, pre-strike planchet imperfections quite clearly. They aren't from coins hitting each other, but from unstruck planchets co-mingling on their way to becoming coins. Not the essentially non-existent marks in the lower points and fields like you would see in a circulated coin, or a coin suffering bag hits:



So wouldn't it stand to reason that a weakly struck coin, that is still in uncirculated (MS) condition would also show these pre-strike flaws of the planchet?

I could be totally incorrect in my understandings, and if I am, that's why Im here - to learn.

 

As a quick comparison, here's a better struck MS66 BTW (MS66+ NGC) (both coins are 1946-S: