Has anybody ever heard of this starburst effect on pres. dollars or know anything about them. I see people trying to sell them as big errors and was wondering what the deal was behind these things. Thanks Nickeldude
Here is a link to a decent thread in the NGC forums about the starburst effect which occurs with over used dies. http://boards.collectors-society.co...rds=starburst&topic=0&Search=true#Post2716998 I can't imagine why it would drive a premium, but I guess it is pretty cool.
No, it is as Lehigh said. As the dies are used the metal flowing across the die when the coins are struck causes fine lines to be etched into the surface of the die. Over time and with repeated use these flow lines can become exagerated. And since the metal flows radially it creates that starburst effect. It is not an error of any kind - it is the result of the mint using worn out dies.
Lehigh and you are right, I looked it up again. After you saying what it was tell me why did I even bother to go back and look it up.
Back to the original post, it does seem to me the Presidential Dollars had a very high occurance of this. Frankly I never saw prior the Pres. Dollar, but I haven't been doing this as long as a lot of others. Also I have never seen a Sac. Dollar with this problem. He was also right I have seen them being touted as something "big" and you just have to have it. I also don't recall any '08's with the problem, only 07's. When this occurs is it usually with a new type of coin coming out from the mint?
I got a whole roll of them. I thought they where stupid looking like someone put steel wool on it and rubbed.
Not at all. It occurs whenever dies are over used to that point. It's not unusual to find Mercury dimes, Buffalo nickels, Lincoln cents - virtually anything with the same effect.
