I received this coin recently. The cap side has a lot of scratches, but is seems the scratching happens before striking? Any thoughts or comments are welcome. Have a nice weekend.
They look post strike to me, what are you seeing that leads you to believe they were pre strike? If they were scratches on the die, they would show as raised lines. If they were scratches on the planchet, the strike force and metal flow would obliterate them. To me it almost looks like someone was using the coin to mark up and determine alignment of the rays and the date/assayer punches. Perhaps a study coin for a counterfeiter? (Or else it was someone with way too much time on their hands just scratching up a coin for something to do) Can't wait for SwamperBob to chime in on this one.
Post mint damage, in my opinion, since scratches in some cases extend to raised design elements. Interesting hypothesis about marking the design elements to study alignment.
Post strike, and I guess somebody was indeed just pretty bored. Looks quite cool though. Not your everyday scratches - I didn't know coins get wrinkles with age as well :-)
Many thanks to all the friends who replied. I appreciate your comments very much. This coin is bought for less than $50, not that high. best wishes to all.
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