Trying Make Cents , On Strikes With Grease

Everything has a value. How much? It is in the person who wants it and how much they are willing to pay. Check e-bay, price books, magazines,experts, ect... Also, if you like it then that is what counts.

Short answer: Grease strikethroughs are very common for the most part, and because of that only grease strikes which have obliterated large areas of the coin should normally have any added value. The exception are coin series which are rarely found with errors of any kind. There are some that are missing parts of the design and some that have a following such as 2005-P Kansas "In God We Rust" quarter missing the T for trust. Regardless even minor grease strikethroughs have been selling as well but dont expect to retire when its minor. Sometimes the grease strike will partially obliterate the design, while at other times it will completely do so and those are the most desired of these types of errors.

This type of error coins occurs when grease gets on the planchet or die and is struck into the coin. The grease can come from any number of sources including the minting press, which has lots of moving parts that get oiled, or it could come from the planchets themselves, which historically have at various periods in time been coated with a small amount of oil.

Greasers are not weak strikes. Please show us photos (one coin per thread please) so we can assist you without speaking in generalities.

To everyone that has insight on this topic, I'd really like to know if anyone has ever field tested the idea that grease will impede 88,000 lbs of pressure on a surface area less than 1/2"x 1/2". If it's nothing more than a term that's universally used but not actually understand to be the cause of the specific distortion, I could live with that.

What drives me nuts is the fact that anyone with the aspiration can get a Doctorate in Numismatics which in my mind must hold some scientific and forensic training. Simply put, grease must obey the laws of thermodynamics. Pressure translates into heat, heat changes the properties of grease, probably just burning it up at that pressure. I think some explanations are misleading and in this case ridiculous.

I don't have a degree in metallurgy nor numismatics. I do have experience with large punches, presses and a variety of metal alloys. I've never seen grease do anything other than it's intended purpose, lubricate a friction point. If the struck thru grease theory had any weight to it your wheels wouldn't turn well, engine wouldn't fire correctly, it would even make it difficult to open and close doors because it would impede the surface it was supposed to lubricate.

I'd love to know the history of the attribution in general. My personal theory is someone was presented with a coin that has been restruck/overstruck that would cause lots of distorted lines and basically look like what grease might do if it were a solid material.

I believe that missing letters, worn areas on coins are generally the cause of build up on the die of copper/zinc/silver/nickel or whatever alloy the planchette is made of. Another possibility is die wear or slight misalignment.

The only way this will ever be answered is to actually test the theories. Grease would not even be on my long list of possibilities.

Thank you.