Coin Community Family of Web Sites Join Thousands of Coin, Bullion, & Money Collectors
Vancouvers #1 Coin and Paper Money Dealer Shop for APMEX Bullion on eBay!Royal Canadian Mint products, Canadian, Polish, American, and world coins and banknotes. Join Thousands of Coin, Bullion, & Money Collectors 300,000 items to help build your collection! Coin, Banknote and Medal Collectors's Online Mall Specializing in Modern Numismatics








Username:
Password:
Save Password
Forgot your Password?


This page may contain links that result in small commissions to keep this free site up and running.

Welcome Guest! Registering and/or logging in will remove the anchor (bottom) ads. It's Free!

Anomalous Great Basin Obverse

To participate in the forum you must log in or register.
Author Previous TopicReplies: 3 / Views: 1,286Next Topic  
Pillar of the Community
publius's Avatar
United States
807 Posts
 Posted 08/23/2013  8:10 pm Show Profile   Bookmark this topic Add publius to your friends list Get a Link to this Message Number of Subscribers
I was sorting through my change, & came across a 2013-P Great Basin quarter. So far so good. But the obverse has the strangest surface finish I've ever encountered. I haven't attached a photo because I'm not sure how to get the effect to show up, so if anyone can give me some advice on that, I'd appreciate it — meanwhile, you're stuck with my verbal description.

I can only describe the surface finish as "satin". Aside from a couple of bag-marks, it's extremely uniform over the whole piece. The general character is similar to a frosted surface, but much more subtle. Also, underneath the satin finish, the surface is a near-perfect mirror. The overall effect on reflected light I can best describe as a superposition of a Lambertian & a specular surface, with something like 80% mirror & 20% diffusion, so that close-by objects give a quite distinct reflection, but at certain lighting & viewing angles, the portrait almost completely disappears.

Is this ringing a bell for anyone?
Pillar of the Community
CoinDan98's Avatar
United States
1053 Posts
 Posted 08/31/2013  11:47 pm  Show Profile   Bookmark this reply Add CoinDan98 to your friends list Get a Link to this Reply
Interesting hard to tell without pics...
Pillar of the Community
publius's Avatar
United States
807 Posts
 Posted 09/11/2013  01:26 am  Show Profile   Bookmark this reply Add publius to your friends list Get a Link to this Reply
Well, I'm still trying to figure out how best to photograph it. Maybe I can take photos from oblique angles, with the illumination from several different directions?

I found a White Mountain with the same effect on both sides, & another with a weaker version, which might be an intermediate state in the progress toward a normal die appearance.
Pillar of the Community
baysinger626's Avatar
United States
950 Posts
 Posted 09/11/2013  2:10 pm  Show Profile   Bookmark this reply Add baysinger626 to your friends list Get a Link to this Reply
I know what you are talking about. I believe this is from an early die strike.
As the die is used more it loses that frosty look. I see it on lots of new quarters.
  Previous TopicReplies: 3 / Views: 1,286Next Topic  

To participate in the forum you must log in or register.



    




Disclaimer: While a tremendous amount of effort goes into ensuring the accuracy of the information contained in this site, Coin Community assumes no liability for errors. Copyright 2005 - 2026 Coin Community Family- all rights reserved worldwide. Use of any images or content on this website without prior written permission of Coin Community or the original lender is strictly prohibited.
Contact Us  |  Advertise Here  |  Privacy Policy / Terms of Use

Coin Community Forum © 2005 - 2026 Coin Community Forums
It took 0.22 seconds to rattle this change. Forums