Message:

<p>[QUOTE=&quot;jaceravone, post: 1886696, member: 9474&quot;]I don&#039;t know if I can be as articulate as Doug can but I will try.&nbsp; </p><p><br /></p><p>First lets look at the OP&#039;s pics.&nbsp; What do we notice?&nbsp; I notice that both the obverse and reverse are affected.&nbsp; Now lets think about the minting process for a minute.&nbsp; If there was a &quot;thin&quot; layer of grease or debris on the dies, how would this impact the impression left on the coin?&nbsp; Also, I would ask myself, would/could grease be on both dies?&nbsp; By looking at the OP&#039;s pics, these &quot;grease&quot; spots extend <i>through</i> the devices of the coin or in other words, the raised areas.&nbsp; These are the areas that would be incused on the die.&nbsp; 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.&nbsp; And if it was, how would this affect the impression?&nbsp; In other words, how would this affect the striking process.&nbsp; From what I can tell, the devices are all well defined.&nbsp; The miniature Idaho is very well struck which tells me that it doesn&#039;t look as though any grease or debris affected the design at all.&nbsp; 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.</p><p><br /></p><p>So lets look at the other theory that has been presented....clashed die.&nbsp; 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.&nbsp; Depends on what dies were being used to mint the coins at the time.&nbsp; I can&#039;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.&nbsp; 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?&nbsp; They would try and fix the dies by buffing the clashes down, therefore try to extend the life cycle of the die.&nbsp; Normally, if it was a weak clash, minimal buffing would be needed and it would go mostly undetected.&nbsp; 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.&nbsp; Maybe it was grease after all that caused the problems....</p><p><br /></p><p>So what exactly do we have going on here?&nbsp; Hard to tell from the close up pics.&nbsp; 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.&nbsp; I personally don&#039;t think grease was involved and that this was a clashed die that was repaired.&nbsp; </p><p><br /></p><p>I would like to hear anyone elses explanation on why this may have occurred, including a greased filled die theory.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

Your name or email address:

Do you already have an account?

• No, create an account now.
• Yes, my password is:
• Forgot your password?

Stay logged in