I found this coin in a mint set that appears to have a crack running across Sacagawea's face running from between the L and I in Liberty through the side of her eye, on by the nose and through her lips. I can't tell if this is a crack or just a gouge from something. Can you help me distinguish what this is?
If it's raised...which is what I think I'm seeing from the pics...it would be a die crack. Though it does look like there is a dig and some metal displaced...sorta like a de-lamination. Let's see what others say.
To me ,it looks like a contact mark/scratch, looking at the line there are indentations and separations, it does not look like a solid,raised line like a die crack would be.
Though the hair, it looks incuse as it doesn't flow over the top of the hair. A die crack on a BU coin will show the crack as a fully raised over the tops of devices, fields and design rise above. Also not the line is not straight and can show die chips on a real die crack. I'm not fully seeing that on this coin. If the coin is circulated a while, the die cracks can wear off on the coin on the highest devices. But if it s a scratch, the area will be incuse and flat in the trench: Note the plating on this cent, makes a look of moved snow where the plating was moved. So this is not raised, but the trench is incuse from damage to the coin on my example. So seeing closer into the trench with a close up will show us, it is a die crack or coin scratch. That is what I need to see on your coin. A closer view of the area in question.
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