Fresh Off The Cherry Tree-Pics Up Now

Interesting, Itchy. I had to go back for another look myself. I'm new to variety attribution and not very good at it yet, so I always welcome a second set of eyes(or 3rd or 4th). I compared mine with Heritage lot #5548, and the "short cracks" are not the same, I agree. If you do a "long crack" comparison, though, there are enough exact matches in the area depicted in this photo alone, that it's hard for me to see how it could have come from a different die. My microscope takes crappy pics, and I'm not sure how much will get lost in the upload, but I will try to email you the original in case you'd like to play around with it. Your email is turned off, so I couldn't send the original; hopefully this one will do the trick.

I don't see any die cracks in your photo above. Perhaps you can post a second copy of the photo with arrows pointing to where you see cracks. Die cracks should appear as RAISED metal lines.

Nobody can tell you exactly how the die lines on the Heritage coins occurred. They could be left over from polishing, they could be caused by die fatigue, or the die could have been damaged at the mint. There are a number of other Shield nickel dies that show similar lines. They are on the die, not an artifact of striking. (If they were an artifact of a specific strike, there would not be a number of examples with the same feature.)

None of the marked places look like die cracks to me - just marks (scratches) on the coin.

Die cracks have to be raised lines. Generally, they are not going to form in the middle of the field, but instead be connected to some device on the coin.

There are some raised elements (like around the stars, that you haven't marked). This is Longacre doubling (not collectible and of no value).

To pick a random example off ebay, consider:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/1868-Shield...AOSwPcVViElG

Item# 252895579508 in case the link doesn't work.

This obverse shows cracks:
1) From the rim to the 3rd leaf right
2) From the bottom tip of the bottom leaf right to the rim
3) From the left side of the bottom leaf right heading sw to the arrow fletch and on to the arrowhead.
4) From the shaft of the right arrowhead to the adjacent curlicue.
5) From the left bottom of the 1 to the rim.
6) From the tip of the bottom leaf left heading south into the field
7) From the shaft of the left arrowhead to the adjacent curlicue
8) Across the top of the date

Other markings are scratches.

1) Lines ne and nw of the date.
2) Line from the tip of the right arrowhead extending into the field.
3) Lines between the second and third leaf right (in the fields to the left and right of the leaves).
4) Lines to the left of the tip of the left arrowhead.

I'm sure I've missed some lines (both cracks and scratches), but I hope that this gives you some help in differentiating die cracks from scratches.

Other than the previously mentioned die lines between ED (UNITED) and rim, I don't see any die lines or cracks on the Heritage reverses either.