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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;JPeace$, post: 2091721, member: 42727&quot;]Interesting discussion on die cracks.&nbsp; I think some of them can be very interesting.&nbsp; When collecting a large series (dates/mm&#039;s), it&#039;s nice to &quot;break up&quot; the monotony by adding coins with unique die cracks/breaks.</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>What&#039;s interesting is how to characterize the die break.&nbsp; Is it mint damage during the process or is it not?&nbsp; I can see both sides of the &quot;coin&quot;; pun intended.</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>On the one hand, the coin&#039;s design did not have &quot;die cracks&quot; and the orginal dies weren&#039;t made with them, so die cracks could be considered flaws.&nbsp; If they are considered flaws, than there is no way coins can achieve the same grade with everything being equal.</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>However, if you consider grading to start &quot;as the mint intended&quot;, then you could argue that die cracks shouldn&#039;t reduce the technical grade.&nbsp; After all, if the mint didn&#039;t &quot;intend&quot; the coin to be stamped with die cracks, they would have stopped the process once a die crack was discovered, remove the die from production and insert new ones.&nbsp; It&#039;s clear they did not do this.</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>I was on the fence when I started this reply, but after typing, editing and re-typing, I believe that coins with die cracks should not grade the same as those without them, everything else being equal.</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>I own this coin and it&#039;s not been sent to be graded yet.&nbsp; I plan to do that this year.&nbsp; I love the coin and I think the die crack and reverse flaws add character to the coin.&nbsp; That being said, how can I expect my coin to achieve the same grade to a similar coin (strike, luster, lack of contact marks, light wear) that doesn&#039;t have these die cracks?&nbsp; My coin appears to be from a medium state die and IMO, is very eye appealing, but it certainly doesn&#039;t represent the coin as the designer intended.</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p><a href="http://s1291.photobucket.com/user/jpcienkus/media/Copper%20coins/1818MS63BN_zps0e62a950.jpg.html" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://s1291.photobucket.com/user/jpcienkus/media/Copper%20coins/1818MS63BN_zps0e62a950.jpg.html" rel="nofollow"><img src="http://i1291.photobucket.com/albums/b560/jpcienkus/Copper%20coins/1818MS63BN_zps0e62a950.jpg" class="bbCodeImage wysiwygImage" alt="" unselectable="on" /></a><a href="http://s1291.photobucket.com/user/jpcienkus/media/Copper%20coins/1818MS63BNreverse_zps02ad7360.jpg.html" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://s1291.photobucket.com/user/jpcienkus/media/Copper%20coins/1818MS63BNreverse_zps02ad7360.jpg.html" rel="nofollow"><img src="http://i1291.photobucket.com/albums/b560/jpcienkus/Copper%20coins/1818MS63BNreverse_zps02ad7360.jpg" class="bbCodeImage wysiwygImage" alt="" unselectable="on" /></a></p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>So what grade reductions do you give a coin for having die cracks that don&#039;t distract from the overall eye appeal of a coin?&nbsp; Is it one point?&nbsp; 2?&nbsp; Do you count the number of die cracks?&nbsp; Do you consider the location?&nbsp; IMO, this is where it really gets subjective.&nbsp; After all, beauty is in the eye of the beholder.&nbsp; One mans rainbow toned morgan is another mans tarnished dreck.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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