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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;GDJMSP, post: 1553669, member: 112&quot;]The cameo effect is the result of a deliberate effort by the mint to make the coins look that way. Yes, they used to use acid to treat the dies, but that was many years ago. Since then they have used various forms of sandblasting, and today they use lasers to treat the dies.</p><p><br /></p><p>To produce the cameo effect the devices (basically all recessed areas) on the die are given a pebble effect, while the fields (all raised areas of the die) are polished. These two things are what produce the cameo effect.</p><p><br /></p><p>In today&#039;s world only the Proof coins are produced with cameo. But there was a time when most coins produced for circulation had the came effect also. The ones people are most familiar with are Morgan dollars. But halves, quarters, dimes, and all of the gold denominations of the period, were produced with cameo as well.</p><p><br /></p><p>But the mint did not take pains to make sure that every coin produced had the cameo effect. Only the coins struck with new, or fresh dies had cameo. And once the pebble effect on the dies wore out they went right on striking coins with those dies. So the result was that only a few of the coins struck for circulation had cameo. Morgans were an exception, not all, but a great many of the Morgans produced had the cameo.</p><p><br /></p><p>By the early 1900&#039;s the mint discontinued this practice and it was not until the Proofs of the &#039;30s that cameo was again produced on coins, and then only on Proofs. And not all Proofs either, but only those struck with new and fresh dies. This practice continued until 1973 when the mint decided that all Proofs would have the cameo effect. That practice continues even today.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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