At first I thought this was just in someone's pocket with a bottle cap for too long: Then I looked at the back and it was all wonky too. Most of the flaws are raised not sunken with the exception of the bottle cap marks and the cut through the 5 on the obverse. Anybody have any idea what happened here?
I'm fairly certain that it is all just PMD. As the indentations are made, the metal is pushed up and out of the recesses. Chris
Thanks Chris. That's what I thought at first too. But the reverse has no indentations, everything there is raised. I'm a novice, and not the best coin photographer. I'm not arguing with you either. I don't know enough about the striking process, just trying to tell you what it really looks like. If all the flaws on the obverse were indents, I could see it pushing through the other side. But they're not. Even some of the stuff that looks sunken in my crappy picture is actually raised.
I don't consider it being argumentative at all. It is just one of the ways that enables all of us to learn. However, I do have to disagree with you that the reverse "has no indentations, everything is raised". If you look at the two marks directly above the eagle's head, you can see that the indentations have pushed metal out of and onto the upper side of each recess. I've often referred to this as the "crater effect" in that the displaced metal has to go somewhere just like when a meteorite strikes the earth. The displaced earth builds up along the rim of the impact crater, much of which is on the side of the crater in the direction of travel of the meteorite. In the case of your quarter, the (PMD) strike was made at a slight angle away from the eagle's head toward the rim at 12 o'clock. You should also note that some of the devices and initial damage on the obverse appears to be "mashed down" which suggests that it was caused by strikes on the reverse while the coin laid on a hard surface (like an anvil or something). I don't know what type of tool or gizmo the person who caused this was using, but it seems obvious that he had nothing better to do with his time. Chris
agree, 'walked' in at the end of UNITED, the shaft caused the concaved 'hole' and he chattered there until the coin guy pulled it out of the coinstar machine it came from, I think.
+1. Although it may be of some interest to find out exactly HOW it was damaged, the fact to take away from this is that it is still a damaged coin, and that damage does not add value.
Thanks all. I appreciate the comments! And yeah I see those gouges now Chris. Whatever machine did it, I don't think it was Coinstar, because this quarter has been out of circulation since at least 1987, probably a lot longer. But thanks again for the insights.
whoa---coinstar? ok off to Wikipedia, got to know that answer--thanks for the pic of the coin---hum. 1987.....
Yes, this was in my grandmother's collection. She died in 1987. From the Coinstar website: "In 1989, with idea in hand, Jens interviewed supermarket shoppers as part of his grad school project. During these conversations he confirmed his suspicion: lots of people have lots of coins just sitting idle at home, not being of much value. But the process of sorting, counting and rolling the coins, and then hauling them all the way to a bank isn’t easy, isn’t convenient— it’s just too darn hard. Two years later, Jens founded Coinstar with this goal: develop an easy and convenient way for people to turn their coins into cash. Jens, along with two classmates, created a machine that could do the hard work of sorting and counting the coins. The easy part? You simply pour the coins in." You have all convinced me it's just a damaged coin, and that it doesn't really matter what it was damaged by, in terms of value. I just think it's interesting because it's so messed up. And Coinstar doesn't seem to have been what did it. Ripley seems to offer a valid explanation (Believe it or Not). But it definitely seems to have 'spun' in something or had something spin around it even if it was being used as a spacer. Thanks again Taylor
ah-ha! 1991 is when it started, coinstar-back to the coin-very nice and something to keep of your g-ma's, I am sure there are countless amounts of this type damage that inspires collectors--later.
Ouch. I have a dentist I like (thought he insists on being paid in cash from me). And tough I doubt he's be capable of messing up a quarter this badly, he always hits exactly the right nerve with the Novocain and has agreed to/crown all my bad ones (5 in all I think, in gold instead of porcelain. I'm going to ask him to put a nickel bum on the next one. Or maybe I should just floss more often...
Yeah Stang, you're right. This is the kind of thing that inspires me. Sure, I wish It was worth a thousands of dollars, but the reason that I'm interested in looking at money, is not just for the "money" .I really enjoy the process and the history (including the family history), as well as the learning Also, the fact that these things pass pockets and banks, and corner stores without anyone ever looking at them or questioning the fascinates me. I'm not totally in this for the money, though I'm broke. My coins will go to my daughter who is not even a year old yet (barring foreclosure or dental work beyond what Ripley may or may not have required). I always look for damaged or flawed coins but find few, and that is what inspires me. Thanks for the comment, and happy hunting!
