It could be one of two things: 1) The coin was struck through thin layers of grease and debris. 2) Since this is one of the years of the Satin Mint Sets, it could be that it is a coin struck for circulation on worn SMS dies. One thing I noticed in the first year of production (2005) was that the SQ bags I ordered from the Mint had a great number of coins that looked like this. I could only conclude that the SMS dies did not stand up to the constant pounding and then had to be re-polished in some areas so that they could prolong their useful life as circulation dies. By the way, it came as no surprise to me that the SMS program did not last that long, and I think this probably became a major factor in that decision. Chris
I vote struck through grease. I don't see any of these areas matching up with the devices on the opposite side.
I don't know if I can be as articulate as Doug can but I will try. First lets look at the OP's pics. What do we notice? I notice that both the obverse and reverse are affected. Now lets think about the minting process for a minute. If there was a "thin" layer of grease or debris on the dies, how would this impact the impression left on the coin? Also, I would ask myself, would/could grease be on both dies? By looking at the OP's pics, these "grease" spots extend through the devices of the coin or in other words, the raised areas. These are the areas that would be incused on the die. So if there were a thin layer of grease on the dies, you would assume that it would also be in the incused areas as well. And if it was, how would this affect the impression? In other words, how would this affect the striking process. From what I can tell, the devices are all well defined. The miniature Idaho is very well struck which tells me that it doesn't look as though any grease or debris affected the design at all. The obverse devices are a tiny bit weak but this could be due to other reasons......maybe die wear? Could be grease filled....maybe a combination of both. So lets look at the other theory that has been presented....clashed die. Are both dies affected during a clashed die.....YES.....but does this mean that we will see the effects of this on both sides of the coin? Not necessarily. Depends on what dies were being used to mint the coins at the time. I can't remember off hand the exact number, but each die is used to strike hundreds of thousands, maybe millions of coins or more per each die life cycle. If the clash happened early on in the life cycle of the die and was severe enough and it was caught early enough, what would the mint do? They would try and fix the dies by buffing the clashes down, therefore try to extend the life cycle of the die. Normally, if it was a weak clash, minimal buffing would be needed and it would go mostly undetected. But lets say that the clashing was severe enough that required some elbow grease (excuse the pun), the buffing could extend down into the devices of the coin.....this is why we have three legged buffalo nickels. Maybe it was grease after all that caused the problems.... So what exactly do we have going on here? Hard to tell from the close up pics. You really need to see an overall view of the coin to determine if it were a clashed die with attempted repairs or maybe grease filled areas. I personally don't think grease was involved and that this was a clashed die that was repaired. I would like to hear anyone elses explanation on why this may have occurred, including a greased filled die theory.
I don't buy the clashed die theory just yet. There appear to be areas where re-polishing wouldn't be necessary. I'd like to see obverse & reverse photos of the entire coin, first. Chris
this coin was struck with grease , metal shavings , dust and all kinds of debris mixed together and built up on the dies. this is a common thing for our newer coins. this can be found on about any type of the state quarters from about any state.
As Rascal said, this type of occurence(struck through) is common on the modern quarters(the OP even stated this is not the first he's seen.) Once you see this enough times you know exactly what it looks like in both full coin photos and zoomed in photos.
This looks pretty simple. A clash would be raised, this isn’t...it would have to be a strike through. Larry Nienaber
And this is why Im not a detective...... thanks for pointing out the obvious.....something which I clearly overlooked.
I have several LMC clashes and Lincoln's bust is not raised on the reverse but sunken into the design.
eddio this is fairely common , if you look thru rolls of new quarters you should be able to find plenty of them.
I agree that this is a grease strike. I opened a $250 face bag of Idahos and found about 700 examples of a very similar strike through.
and here i was happy how the grease mark in front looked like a bunny ,or someone with a small fist but a very big thumb,,
