The nickel is a VLDS nickel. The lines you see in the field are die flow lines. A very tired and should have already been retired die. The marks on the head have die flow lines in it as well.
Quote: posted by coop VLDS = Very Late Die State LDS = Late Die State MDS = Mid Die State EDS = Early Die State. As the dies age, they start showing their age by details/field starting to flow together. This is not seen on the EDS examples As the dies start showing die flow they are leaving the MDS. Heavy die flow appears on LDS examples. In the VLDS die examples the devices/fields flow together like a snow drift.
Very Late Die State - or VLDS for short - comprises about 50% of the strikes from any normal die's life. It is identifiable by very soft details or some loss of detail, especially the outer edge of details, and very heavy flow lines radiating outward from the center region of the design.
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