Any opinions on this one???

Bob P · Site Admin

Hi folks,
I thought you might find this coin interesting. I would like to hear what other folks think it might be. With the lined being perfectly parallel, my first thought was some sort of a lathe mark. This anomaly only appears on the top half of the reverse. Any other suggestions?

eagames · Expert Member

Hi Bob,

I think it's not a lathe mark because on the tops of the A and T of STATES the marks changed direction and follow the contours of those letters.

If it was lathe marks they would have been there before any lettering was there and I doubt lathe marks could shift to follow the letters when it was hubbed and still be that clear.

Sound reasonable?

I also don't think polishing could be so uniform.

So I think it's not a lathe mark or polishing.

Hmmmmmmm????????

Bob P · Site Admin

Ed,
Those other marks you referred to near the A and T of STATES are actual polishing marks. They are not parallel to each other and pretty much look like regular scratches caused by polishing of the die. They are not part of the thing I am trying to figure out. One thing I did notice was that the marks are concentric, but are only limited to the top halp of the design. I guess this is one of the things that make you go hmmmm??

Steven · Expert Member

I'm thinking I would have to go with lathe marks. Looks to be going well below UNITED only less obvious due to being further in the field and more likely to be worn down with the use of the die in that area ....
Just a guess.

Steven

eagames · Expert Member

Then I'd also go with lathe marks.

The reason I thought the others were the same is they look similar depth and spacing but looking close I do see they're not spaced exactly the same or straight to eacheother.

Could it be they polished heavily there because they wanted to clean up the strongest lathe marks?

Maybe the reason lathe marks would only show on half the design is the die blank wasn't flat then they lathed it to be almost flat so the lathe only took the high side down to the level of the low side but did not get into the low side so the low side never got lathe marks?

Steven · Expert Member

I came up with this example of a 1996D with similar marks.

Steven

Bob P · Site Admin

Pretty much the same thing Steven. So we know we go at least from 89-96 with the lines. There are probably some out there for all the dates I would suspect.

coop · Expert Member

I see we are leaving no coins missed for anything.... We all learn and profit from the discussions here.

Maybe something new is on the horizon????