Telling Die Abrasions From Hairlines (1934-D Mercury Dime)

I just got this 1934-D Mercury dime, and thought to myself "if I wasn't as familiar with this series, I might think it had been cleaned". It has a lot of die abrasions that, at first glance, might be confused for hairlines from cleaning.

I thought it would make for an educational image.





Notice how the "hairlines" are mostly in the field, and are heaviest in the very lowest points of the design. They all run under the devices. The high points like the cheek show unbroken luster. If the coin had been cleaned, the highest points would show the abrasions and the recesses would be free of them.

The coin shows other evidence that die has had work done. The fields are semi-prooflike, and there is a trace of a die clash (leaves to the right of the neck) which is probably what motivated the die polishing effort. And I think the roughness in the lower rim might be a rim Cud, which might be a consequence of the clash.

In cases of really heavy die abrasions, the high points can show some lines, (the mint worker scrubbed hard enough to work into the recesses of the die), but the lines in the field will always be stronger. There are a few on the neck of this coin that don't show up in the photo.

If unsure, looking at the lines under high magnification will reveal them to be raised if they're die abrasions.