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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;GDJMSP, post: 1605586, member: 112&quot;]There is something very simple that people always seem to forget - it is extremely common, you could even say it is the norm, for a coin to have die polish lines, <b>and</b> hairlines, <b>and</b> die scratches, all on it at the same time. But more times than not, when a coin is examined they are all said to be die polish lines.</p><p><br /></p><p>Learning to tell die polish lines, from hairlines, or from die scratches, can be done but it takes a bit of doing. You just have to know the specific characteristics of each to be able to identify one from the other.</p><p><br /></p><p>And there is a common fallacy about hairlines and deeper scratches that it seems few ever recognize. What I mean by that is this. It is said that die polish lines are always raised on the coin, and they are. The same thing is true about die scratches, they are always raised on the coin as well. And it is also said that hairlines, or heavier scratches, are always incuse on the coin. That is true as well, but it is only partly true. And it is only partly true because any hairline or scratch, while it produces an incuse line on the coin, that very same hairline or scratch also produces a raised line (or lines) on the coin.</p><p><br /></p><p>Now that may not makes sense at first but it does if you actually take the time to stop and think about it. For example, a scratch of any degree of severity produces a mark like this on a coin - \/. You can call it a gouge, a V, a trough, a trench, anything you want to get the point across. But the end result is that there is a V shaped (or U shaped) mark in the metal of the coin. Metal has been removed by something leaving that V behind.</p><p><br /></p><p>And this is the part that few ever think about - where did that metal go ? It wasn&#039;t taken off the coin and removed from the coin. Instead that metal was merely displaced, it was moved from one spot to another spot on the coin. That missing metal has now become a raised line on the coin. It is right directly alongside of, or on each side of, the V shaped trench - the scratch. </p><p><br /></p><p>So a scratch, any scratch, including hairlines, produces an incuse line and 1 (or 2) raised lines right alongside of it. And this happens every single time.</p><p><br /></p><p>The point of all this is that it is all too easy to mistake hairlines and light scratches and then mistakenly say they are die polish lines.</p><p><br /></p><p>But you can learn to tell the difference between die polish lines, die scratches, and hairlines/scratches. You just have to take the time to do so and always remember that there are differences between them all.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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