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 Replies: 9 / Views: 3,481 |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1027 Posts |
I only just discovered these after using my new macro setup and over flashing a shot of my Gold Liberty. You can tell that the scratches are from the die because they go right up to the devices and in many cases continue on the other side, like inside the first you in UNUM (and of course the fact that the lines are raised on the coin, I will try to get some extreme close-ups that show this later today). There also appear to be some scratches on a few devices as well, but they don't seem to line up with the field ones. The coin still looks great in hand and even under the loupe until you get it in direct sunlight, then the scratches jump out. I was used to the hairlines on the 2009 UHRDE because the domed die were hand polished (those polish lines don't appear on late die state coins, which PCGS & NGC call "prooflike"), but this is bad.   Edited by clairhardesty
10/04/2016 3:09 pm
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Pillar of the Community
 United States
1027 Posts |
Here is an ultra closeup of some of the scratches. The flash is coming from the top and the upper edges of the horizontal scratches are lit up on their upper side, just like he letters. I will try for an extreme closeup later.  |
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CCF Master Historian of USA Commemoratives
 United States
12281 Posts |
I have to say that I am quite surprised by the appearance of your coin. This is the first of these gold Liberty coins that I've seen with such a high level of visible impairment as a result of die polishing. (Admittedly, however, I have not spent much time reviewing these coins.)
I don't own an example, so I can't offer the results of a personal inspection. Maybe others who do have one of them will share what they see on their coins?
Collecting history one coin or medal at a time! (c) commems. All rights reserved.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1027 Posts |
The coin looks perfectly decent when viewed inside with the naked eye. I did not notice the scratches until I hit the coin with my new macro flash (and a subsequent viewing under direct sunlight). At first I thought the coin had been mishandled but when viewed at high magnification under the right light it is clear that the scratches are raised on the coin and not incuse. I am mostly upset that I did not examine it more closely during the 7 day return period. Since I have no intention of having it and almost of the other coins in my collection graded and slabbed, it is not that big of a deal. Now I just have to wait for the aftermarket price of the silver versions to come down a little and I can have a set.
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Bedrock of the Community
 United States
12839 Posts |
That is very surprising. Makes me want to examine some of my other proof coins more closely. Or not, considering I'd be highly disappointed if they exhibit the same characteristics.
Is it possible the macro flash is exaggerating the depth/severity of the scratches? That's a HUGE difference between the two photos.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1027 Posts |
Well yes, the flash and direct sunlight do tend to exaggerate the scratches but even in ambient daytime lighting (sunlight coming in through a window but not casting shadows) the diagonal scratches are readily seen with a 5x loupe. All you see with the unaided eye is those dulling areas around the eagle, with the area under the olive branch most evident (top right photo). Those dull areas are filled with what I would call abnormal polishing marks. Under higher magnification, the entire field is filled with polishing lines much like the 2009 UHRDE has. Those normal high relief polishing lines do not detract from the classic cameo appearance as seen in the top left photo. The obverse field is as one would expect of such a coin, even when using the 5x loupe. I will take some obverse pics for comparison later today.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1027 Posts |
Here are images of the obverse under similar conditions. The obverse has much less of a cameo effect on my coin but it is free of any polishing flaws.  |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1027 Posts |
I found something that makes me feel better about my coin. I was looking at the many images of MS70 & MS69 coins on the PCGS Price Guide and discovered that quite a few of them appear to have very similar die scratches (on both OBV and REV). Some of the "perfect" coins have visible scratches when you download the full size images. My coin when photographed under similar conditions looks no worse than some of the coins graded as MS70.
Edited by clairhardesty
10/13/2016 8:29 pm
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
10982 Posts |
A few years I sent my brother-in-laws 2009 Gold UHR to PCGS for grading. It had light die polish lines in the fields that were clearly visible under a 3X glass, though not distracting and barely noticeable without magnification. It came back MS70. He thought it was close to PL until I pointed out the polish lines that kept PL out of the question. Bottom line: Don't sweat light die polish lines and don't use over a 5X glass unless attributing or error searching. A lot of the images posted on forums are way over 5X.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1027 Posts |
I have always been bothered by the PL designation on the 2009 UHRDE, and now it is showing up on this coin as well. Those 2009 coins are from late die state strikes, where the polish lines that were on all of the die (because of the dome nature of the fields) had been hammered smooth. It just seems somehow wrong to treat late a die state coin as a premium coin. Of course on that coin, late die state wasn't all that many strikes away from a true "first struck" coin.
The one image that PCGS has of a PL 2015 is an MS69PL that has both polishing lines as well as die scratches hat are every bit as bad as my coin.
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Replies: 9 / Views: 3,481 |
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Posted 10/04/2016 11:30 pm
