I recieved this 2004 Washington in change today. Normally, I'd dismiss the divot in Washington's nose as damage, but it just didn't feel right. It wasn't consistant with the wear of the rest of the coin. So I took a closer look. At 10 X, you can see a small die crack that starts at the base of Wasington's nose where it meets the rest of his face, runs over his lips, and follows the conture of the cud. Here's a few more close up (as I can get it) pictures.
I'm probably missing something, but it looks like someone took something like a blunt pointed metal punch and bopped George's chin with it to make a pit with raised edges. Do you have more than one with this mark? Any unusual raised area on a struck coin either has to be a piece missing from the die when it was struck or had to be pushed up as a result of some sort of impact after the coin was struck. Which do you think it is?
Arg...mixed up my terminology....still learning Its concave, not convex. 1. There is a divot with a raised lip on the chin. 2. There is a small die crack running from the nostril over part of the lip to the chin, following the contour of the "divot". If you look at the 2nd picture, the bit of light on the lip is the best shot of the die crack I could capture. So that's why I'm curious. If it was post mint damage, why would a die crack follow the contour of a divot? Unless....would it be possible that the divot just happened to hit close enough to the die crack to move it?
If the mark is incuse (concave) then it happened after the coin left the mint. As for it being so close to the die crack - all I can say is it's coincidence. But yes, it is possible the hit, when it happened, did move the metal and the die crack.
