What's this gunk on the ike?

[pendragon1998]

Here's a photo I took for a seller when I wanted to return a slabbed ike for an exchange. Any idea what this gunk on the ike is? I no longer have the coin in-hand, but it was a PCGS MS66. The photo is pretty true to life.

[cpm9ball]

Maybe Ike was playing out of a sand trap...............

 

Chris

[James_OldeTowne]

It looks more like gunk on the slab itself....

[kryptonitecomics]

Maybe some grease residue from when it was originally struck? No idea why it wouldn't have been cleaned off before submission or grading it just looks like the waxy buildup I found in an old roll of Unc 1963 nickels which I assumed was some grease?

[physics-fan3.14]

It's pretty ugly whatever it is.

[MikeInFL]

I've seen this on a few Ikes. I'm not sure what it is, but always considered it an "Ike milkspot" and avoided them like the plague. IIRC, it was always on clad coins. To wit, was this a clad coin?...Mike

[doug6078-migration]

It looks like something in the PCGS case and not from the coin.

[pendragon1998]

To answer a couple questions:

 

This was a 1972-S silver clad Ike.

 

The gunk was definitely on the coin and not the slab.

 

Yes, it is fugly...

[ibyandsellsmith]

It just amazes me, how, stuff like that can get through three graders.

[just carl]

Not to change the subject but it appears you bite your fingernails.

[pendragon1998]

Bad habit