1969-S Proof Quarter Frosting Error

That is what I believe.



Quite possibly.

Back in the early 70' there was a rash of fake DMPL Morgans coming onto the market. The coins were real but they had been polished and then the devices artificially frosted. They were impressive looking but the hailines in the fields and the frost spilling over into confined field areas where it shouldn't have been gave them away. They were known as "California Prooflikes". I have one but it has been a long time since I have seen any. The last one I saw believeit or not was a Deace dollar! Imagine a Peace dolar with deep mirror fields and frosted white devices. I knew what it was and so did the dealer, would have loved to have it but couldn't get the dealer to part with it.

Several years later there was another round of artificially cameoed Morgans but this time they didn't bother to polish them so they were just Deep Cameos and not DMPL. Same identifying feature, cameo running off into the field in places.

HERE IS AN UPDATE:

I sent the Quarter to Mike Diamond. Here are his comments:

Prior to me sending the coin to him and commenting on the photos only, he said: "It's unlikely to be a case of frosting slopover because, as far as I'm aware, intentional frosting of proof coins wasn't introduced until 1971. Before then, all "frosting" was the result of an early strike (the real cameo appearance)."

After examining the coin, he said: "The patch of frosting below Washington's queue represents an area of the die face that was missed during polishing. As I mentioned before, the frosting is not enhanced during this time period to make every proof a cameo. I abhor the introduction of that step in 1971, as it eradicates the fine details of the design. The much finer frosting seen on your coin is the result of an acid bath (actually, a nitric acid/alcohol solution) that the dies were submerged in prior to polishing."