Gold Indian-- Problem Coin Or Mint Error

[supertooth]

Hello Folks---- Bought this piece several years ago in a local accumulation of coins. Thought about sending it in to NGC but just have held back from doing so. Mostly because of the tiny bits of verdigris. The verdigris is NOT the problem by the way. It has never been graded or viewed by any grading service or coin dealer. Think maybe this coin will make another good WYNTK thread one day.

 

Anyway, please take a look and let me know what you think. Naturally, I have thoughts too---but I am curious as to why this has occured on 'both' sides of the coin? The situation is hopefully plainly evident from the pictures. All opinions are welcome. Any thoughts on what NGC would say? Problem coin or Mint Error??

 

Have included a picture of the mint mark. Under 20X magnification, the NE corner of the "D" is traversed by another line---looks like a die crack or maybe a light scratch line. This line is "in addition" to the circle lines around the coin's rims. This other line runs up through the 'P' of Pluribus on through the middle of the U and N of United. The outside line around the rims is incuse in nature with what appears to be die polish lines within the incused areas. This incused line appears to me to be mint caused because of the die polising that is evident. Before I give away my entire thought pattern, I will stop now and hope we have some smarter gold folks out there. Thanks for ANY opinions. Bob [supertooth]

 

[bsshog40]

That is strange Bob. My first thought was that of some type of rolling machine made the circular mark but the line looks to be under the design. Also, it looks like the design goes all the way to the edge, like the gold planchet was cut short. I don't know much about old gold Bob, but just looking to see if I see something different.

[TomB]

I've seen this happen before with this series and can only guess it is some sort of artifact of the minting process since these pieces do not have the traditional raised rim.

[MikeInFL]

Like Tom, I swear I've seen this before on this series.

 

That said, my first thought was some type of jewelry bezel...Mike

[BillJones]

Is there a bit of PVC on the "1" in the date? If so you might look to remove that.

 

I've seen the circle that runs around the edge of the reverse on other 1914-D quarter eagles. It is not unique.

 

I'd say the coin has a shot at an MS-63, but that's only a guess. I only hope that the possilbe PVC damage does not amount to anything.

[jtryka]

I've seen the rim circle on quite a few incuse Indians, so I would agree with Tom's opinion here. I like the coin, but would prefer it without the mean greenies!

[PerryHall]

I've seen this many, many times. It's caused by die erosion. It's normal for this series.

[James_OldeTowne]

Your coin was struck off a "sunken die". It is not a rare phenomenon, and is one normal result of die deterioration through extended use. It will not affect the grade.

[RWB]

The full or partial circle inside the “rim” of Pratt $5 and $2.50s is common. It results from upsetting the blanks, then making the nearly flat dies strike a broad flat field. Pratt’s original design apparently had a short, raised rim (based on his comments – no photos of his models are known) which was removed by the mint before any pattern coins were struck. Because of limited metal flow and uneven curvature of the dies, many surface artifacts remain on struck coins. Centering is poor and reeding is also irregular due to striking.

 

(See Renaissance of American Coinage 1905-1908 for design and initial striking of the Pratt gold coins.)

[IGWT]

I'd take what others have said regarding the as-struck nature of the defect and add only to Bill's comment about the PVC. I don't know whether the copper is present in sufficient quantity in the alloy to permit the formation of verdigris (copper acetate), and the green looks more like PVC (does it react with gold?). If it were verdigris, it would have a crystalline structure visible under magnification.

[just-john]

could the lines be from being used in a ring or pendant where it met the coin and the d mint mark added later ?Not to say it was because I'm know expert

[xJack]

and the green looks more like PVC (does it react with gold?).

 

PVC does not react with Gold, as Gold is inert. I suppose it could attack the copper in the allow and cause some miniscule pitting.

 

 

As for the coin - Nice piece! Get the boogers off and send it in!