Die scratch on '07 silver eagle UC coins?

[Ted K-migration]

I just got a tube of 07 silver eagles (no W) and was going over them with a 10x when I noticed something odd. There appears to be a pair of short lines coming off either side of the 2nd 0 in the date. The more prominent one is about 10 degrees off horizontal at about 10 o'clock on the number, extending just short of the far side of the whole of the zero, going through the top of the number and lining up with a wider somewhat linear blob about half that length. I would have written it off as a scratch until I saw the same thing, in various stages from very clear to gone, on the rest of the coins in the tube. Some of them also exhibit some roughness/lines in the inside of the right hand side of the loop on the same 0 as well. Anyone else noticed this?

 

Unfortunately I don't have access to imaging that can provide sufficient magnification (a trinocular microscope is on my "need to buy" list, bonus points if anyone can give me a decent nudge in the direction of a good one), so my wordy description will have to do for now.

[cpm9ball]

You need to determine if the line is raised or recessed from the surface. If it is raised, then it is probably a die break. The rough area inside the loop may have been where someone tried to "clean up" the damaged area on the face of the die.

 

Die breaks don't often add much premium to any coin unless it is very severe and prominent.

 

Chris

[bsshog40]

You need to determine if the line is raised or recessed from the surface. If it is raised, then it is probably a die break. The rough area inside the loop may have been where someone tried to "clean up" the damaged area on the face of the die.

 

Die breaks don't often add much premium to any coin unless it is very severe and prominent.

 

Chris

 

I agree with Chris here also.

[MarkFeld]

I would have written it off as a scratch until I saw the same thing, in various stages from very clear to gone, on the rest of the coins in the tube

While excellent images or an in-hand view would be preferable, the above comment makes it extremely likely that you what you are seeing is mint-made.

[Ted K-migration]

You need to determine if the line is raised or recessed from the surface. If it is raised, then it is probably a die break. The rough area inside the loop may have been where someone tried to "clean up" the damaged area on the face of the die.

 

Die breaks don't often add much premium to any coin unless it is very severe and prominent.

 

Chris

 

I've looked at them all at a lot of different angles under 10x with a powerful light just overhead and from everything I can tell they're raised. I have seen both damage (I go through "unsorted" wheat bulk from a dealer I've found to be above-board to kill time sometimes) and I've seen die cracks on morgans. They are thicker than I'm used to seeing in morgans, so I'm wondering if it wasn't some tool damage that someone tried to polish out. And as Mark quoted, it's the exact same marks on all of the coins.

 

As to the premium attached, I'm not overly concerned about the value attached, I really just picked them up as bullion. I was more wondering if anyone else had seen it just for the sake of being a die variety. I've answered my own question and have emailed Coin World to see if Collector's Corner or Mr. Wexler is interested if it's an unknown thing up to this point.

 

*e* Additionally, it looks like they've been roughly removed from the tube a couple of times, so there's some scratches on them. Key difference between those scratches and this thing is that the scratches go through the finish on the coin, showing just a very shiny silver, and the crack/gouge still has the same finish as the rest of the coin.