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Pillar of the Community
 United States
5239 Posts |
They are Coinfrog, how or why I have no clue. My first thought was heat but it is the same thickness as any other coin. Then I thought acid, but if it were acid then ONE CENT and USOA would be affected which are not. Maybe it was the combination of the two?
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Pillar of the Community
 United States
5780 Posts |
All I can think of is a coating had been applied to the surface somehow, either intentionally or accidentally. The higher points of the affected devices got ground/sanded off and a caustic substance finished up with the effect you are seeing by dissolving the exposed copper? The coating could have protected the areas not sanded down from corrosion.
Words of encouragement are one of the major food groups.
We need to consume them regularly to thrive and grow.
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Bedrock of the Community
 United States
12477 Posts |
There is simply no logical explanation for how some devices that would normally be in relief are suddenly incuse on this without major distortion. I believe you are missing something on this, Jim.
Can you take an angled closeup of LIBERTY to show that it is not raised? Also, make sure there are no foreign substances on the coin that may create a higher-than-normal "field."
In Memory of Crazyb0 12-26-1951 to 7-27-2020
In Memory of Tootallious 3-31-1964 to 4-15-2020
In Memory of T-BOP 10-12-1949 to 1-19-2024
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Pillar of the Community
United States
5239 Posts |
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
94367 Posts |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
5239 Posts |
@Coinfrog, I'm sure coop has seen it and may be stumped like the rest of us. I emailed Mike Diamond all of the pics to get his insight. Again, I am absolutely sure it didn't leave the mint this way as I have never seen incuse letters on a cent before. The only way it left the mint this way is maybe a die mistake but I think that to be HIGHLY UNLIKELY. I am like a few of us, stumped. I agree with spruett001, there may be no logical explanation for this for why some elements are raised and some are incuse and just keep it as a curiosity.
Edited by Jim0815
06/03/2019 3:03 pm
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Pillar of the Community
United States
2376 Posts |
Your coin was acid dipped. The bright smooth areas around the devices would be spots where skin oils and dust would have originally collected and formed a grease. This grease would have preserved the original coin surface from the acid but the unprotected devices were acid etched low.
Then , as the grease disappears from cleaning or wear you are left with devices that are acid recessed below the original coins field.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1005 Posts |
Agree this can be caused by acid etching and pitting of the coin.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
5239 Posts |
stoneman, that makes perfect sense. But why only the outside devises and not the interior devises? They actually are either the same height or a smidge lower than the outside devises.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
2376 Posts |
The areas you see the devices recessed are the ones that normally collect the most gunk from circulation .
A too aggressive cleaning of a gunked up coin with acetone can often leave iridescent fields in just the areas where you see recessed devices on your coin. This effect is the grease protecting and toning these spots.
It's the protected original field that is defining this anomaly
Edited by stoneman227
06/03/2019 4:07 pm
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Pillar of the Community
United States
5239 Posts |
stoneman, I just heard back from Mike and while he said he's never ran across this his answer was pretty much in line with your answer. Thanks for helping me figure this thing out!
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Pillar of the Community
United States
2376 Posts |
Thanks for the update . It is damage , but rather cool damage!
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Pillar of the Community
United States
5239 Posts |
Yes sir! I think I'll keep it for curiosities sake.
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
62064 Posts |
I suspect it was black in color. Then it was cleaned to lighten it up. Almost reminds me of the way the copper/nickel cent looked when I cleaned it . The surface metal falls off and leaves the lines. On mine, it was even worse. The surface was showing no lines, just looked like it was chizelled away. What was the weight of this one? If it was strongly cleaned, it should be under in weight. But years ago, the common thing to do to preserve coin was to put lacquer or varnish on coins to preserve them. On the devices, it looks like this may have happened as you see a haze on the devices. Just looks like a coin that may have been ruined years ago and they tried to fix it making it worse.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
5780 Posts |
John's thoughts seem spot on. One of those things that seems kind of obvious in hindsight.
Maybe they didn't know to use acetone to remove any grease that collected around the devices and used acid or vinegar instead. (Acid can be used to dissolve grease/oil spills). The gunk around the devices would have preserved those areas while working on the copper.
Words of encouragement are one of the major food groups.
We need to consume them regularly to thrive and grow.
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Posted 06/02/2019 9:33 pm
