Thank you for the suggestions and links.
I read through all the reference materials you provided. You nailed it, as usual. Here's my summary take away of all the materials you so generously shared as they relate to this
Peace dollar.
Soft die errors (Brandmeister) result in both beveled areas (smat45), like the one at the forehead and the depressions around the edges. Soft dies have defective metal that's too weak and sinks.
Smat45 thanks for the insights, path forward, and enthusiasm! I am getting registered on Vamworld, and will post there too to get more input, as suggested.
Ridge Ring (Spence) caused by die deterioration/worn dies (Errers and Varietys, John) seems like an overlapping issue. It's not clear to me from what I read if
Ridge Ring happens on normal dies, or only happens with defective "soft dies".
Given that most commonly die wear results in things like distortions, breaks, chips, and cracks, not sunken fields, mechanistically, I would guess that
Ridge Ring is a type of soft die error. Counter to this conjecture, Error-Ref.com says, "The pattern of (soft die errors') deformation bears a passing resemblance to the "ridge rings" that frequently develop on copper-plated zinc cents."
Would love to understand what I'm missing if you experts care to share more.
Edited by CentR
06/23/2024 11:50 am
Posted 06/22/2024 9:38 pm
