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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;dougsmit, post: 4501713, member: 19463&quot;]There are two other factors I feel should be mentioned.&nbsp; One is when a coin is thin enough that there is not enough metal to full both dies completely.&nbsp; This usually shows when an area of the reverse lacks detail or is even recessed compared to the field since all the metal took the easier route into the portrait.&nbsp; I can not answer why some coins put more metal up than down but suspect it may have something to do with die and blank temperatures. The Numerian below is an extreme example of this.&nbsp; The relatively thin flan simply lacked the material with the given hammer force to fill both dies.&nbsp; The reverse has a dent almost pn the legs and the portrait is weak in the middle.&nbsp; Had the hammer been heavier, the effect may have been lessened on one side or both.&nbsp; This coin is actually &#039;as struck&#039; since the weakness on both side were that way when the coin fell from the dies.&nbsp; Notice the texture in the weak spots that would have ordinarily been smoothed by the force of the strike.&nbsp; </p><p>[ATTACH=full]1116412[/ATTACH] </p><p><br /></p><p>Another Numerian was hit harder which spread the flan more but there is still a lack of good detail separating the ear and on the hands in the center of the reverse.&nbsp; I consider this coin to be &#039;as struck&#039; also but neither of the coins are &#039;well struck&#039;.&nbsp; </p><p>[ATTACH=full]1116419[/ATTACH] </p><p><br /></p><p>The second matter is an artifact of the fact that the two dies were not always parallel to each other or even perfectly flat so it is possible that part of the coin will be well struck and another part will be weak.&nbsp; Again using an extreme example the dupondius of Domitian below (6H or inverted die orientation) resulted in the obverse lower right and reverse upper right being well struck while the obverse upper left and reverse lower left were barely struck at all.&nbsp; Domitians head was poorly struck but the neck faired better while Minerva got a good head but no lower parts.&nbsp; I am not saying this coin has no wear but wear did not cause the lack of detail you find ugly.</p><p>[ATTACH=full]1116420[/ATTACH] </p><p><br /></p><p>Now look at the Gallienus again.&nbsp; The coin is weakly struck on both right sides.&nbsp; The obverse AVG is hardly there but the S at upper right is most telling.&nbsp; Compare its flat top to the sharp letters on the left side.&nbsp; The left side letters pushed metal all the way into the die but that S only went in half way.&nbsp; The V before it did slightly better while the A following it did slightly worse.&nbsp; Had the dies been held in proper alignment (parallel) all letters would have been one way or the other but this tilt caused an uneven and gradually changing degree of metal filling the die.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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