Struck Through

[Steven]

I was reading a post and replies about cents struck through wire, cloth etc. and lost my connection and can't seem to find it again. Anyway I had a question that I didn't see the answer to. If a coin is struck through wire, what happens to the die. Is it damaged and if so would it show up on future strikes as a raised area? Just curious.

Thanks,
Steven

[Bob P]

That is an excellent question Steven. There is always the possibility that the die will be damaged when striking through another hard object. In the case of wire from a wire brush used to polish the coins, the chances of the die becoming damaged is pretty small. Most times, the wire is imbedded in the coin that was struck, and that's the end of it. The dies are made of very strong and hardened steel. They have to be in order to strike so many coins. Any damage that might occur to the die would be seen on any subsequent coins struck by that die. This would show until the damage either wears off, or the die is destroyed.

[Steven]

Thanks for the quick response. I thought that the metal of the wire would have been hardened enough to do damage to the die but I guess with the softer metal of the planchet it would cushion most of the damage into itself.
Tanks again,
Steven