Reply to Thread

Message:: [QUOTE="SuperDave, post: 2756937, member: 1892"]Stipulated. This coin, however, demonstrates two strong arguments against that method: 1) Relatively large-dimension pitting on the surface, indicative of machine work so strong as to remove metal. The surface of a planchet is not perfectly homogeneous in terms of hardness - there are "stronger" and "weaker" spots in the alloy, and machine work will often result in the "cratered" look we see on this coin, on both fields and devices. 2) The "halo" of unpolished areas is very small, only found in the tightest of nooks and crannies on the coin. In order to achieve this by hand with a polishing cloth, one would have to painstakingly employ either fingernails or a sharp stick to put the cloth into spaces that tight. Machine polishing can achieve this simply by pressing harder, and 1) indicates they pressed very hard indeed. So, although your point is perfectly valid and it's likely a large plurality of "polished" coins arrived there by that method, this case indicates machine involvement to me with a reasonable degree of certainty.[/QUOTE]