Frosty Morgans And What Contributes To That Effect

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Author	Replies: 5 / Views: 918
Hunter611 Valued Member United States 338 Posts	Posted 02/26/2017 07:12 am As I can to learn about Morgans, I'd appreciate input on what contributes to the frostiness effect of Morgans. Some are clearly more so than others. Thanks in advance. Report this Post to the Staff

TypeCoin971793 Pillar of the Community United States 6370 Posts	Posted 02/26/2017 08:01 am On the devices or the fields? Frosty fields are caused by die wear due to metal flow. Frosty devices are caused by applying acid to the die (I think) to get a matte effect. This was polished off the fields, causing PL fields. The PL fields went away as the die wore and more coins were stuck. Report this Post to the Staff
Slider23 Pillar of the Community United States 4468 Posts	Posted 02/26/2017 10:30 am Quote: Frosty devices are caused by applying acid to the die (I think) to get a matte effect. I have never read anything that acid was used to create the frosty effect on the Morgan. My understanding is that the frosty devices was due to the process in making the dies. Wayne Miller wrote, "The frosty white surfaces of the devices (the head of Liberty on the obverse, and the Eagle on the reverse) is due to a surface roughness in the die cavity. This roughness diffuses the natural reflection of silver, the most reflective of all metals" Report this Post to the Staff
TypeCoin971793 Pillar of the Community United States 6370 Posts	Posted 02/26/2017 11:56 am Ah. I must be thinking of the cameo of modern proof coins. But the general physics is the same. Edited by TypeCoin971793 02/26/2017 11:57 am Report this Post to the Staff
Hunter611 Valued Member United States 338 Posts	Posted 02/26/2017 2:01 pm Thanks for the replies. Interesting stuff. Report this Post to the Staff
Conder101 Bedrock of the Community United States 17884 Posts	Posted 02/27/2017 9:56 pm Quote: I have never read anything that acid was used to create the frosty effect on the Morgan. My understanding is that the frosty devices was due to the process in making the dies. Wayne Miller wrote, "The frosty white surfaces of the devices (the head of Liberty on the obverse, and the Eagle on the reverse) is due to a surface roughness in the die cavity. This roughness diffuses the natural reflection of silver, the most reflective of all metals" Miller is correct, and so is the comment about using acid. In hardening the dies they have to be heated and then rapidly cooled by quenching. This leaves an oxidized surface which is then cleaned by an mild acid bath (pickling) and sometimes some other things. The resulting die has the "matte" type finish over the whole thing. The die is then lapped to final curvature etc and that removes most or all of the "matte" or oxidized surface from the fields, but the lap doesn't get down into the devices so it can't remove the surface roughness there. Report this Post to the Staff
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