Die polishing and grading

[RobertB]

I just got my 70D Kennedy in a sealed Mint set and upon looking at it I noticed some very heavy die polishing on the obverse in the empty spaces around Kennedy's head. How do the grading services regard this? Will it result in a deduction(s)? I've never had a coin with such noticable die polishing.

Thanks for any feedback in advance.

Rob

[Hoot]

Hi Rob - Die polish does not figure into grade, generally speaking. It can be rather wild in its appearance, as it is for much of the Jefferson nickel series, and can add some significant collector interest, if you're into that sort of thing. Grading services see this feature and its various manifestations as "as struck."

 

Hoot

[stman]

Agree with Hoot that die-polish lines are looked at as "As struck" But depending on the coin and how bad they are obvious can be very distracting in the eye-appeal department.

 

Example.... I had a very nice Barber quarter in MS64 sent to me on approval some time ago. The dealer always gives me accurate and honest descriptions ahead of time to eliminate both of us wasting time. Well, when I first opened it I looked and right in the obverse field in front of Liberty's portrait it looked like it had been scrubbed IMO. I thought what the ? and knew it had to be die-polish as it had blazing luster and was a very original surfaced coin. It indeed was die-polish lines (raised) that looked like a wire brush was taken to it.

 

It also wasn't a cheap model, and I felt it was too distracting for my taste. It went back immediately without question. The dealer felt it was "As struck" and didn't think to mention it.

[EVillageProwler]

I would've kept that Barber with the die striations as I think it (normally) imparts a nice cameo appearance.

 

EVP

 

[RobertB]

Thanks Hoot and stman . I can understand what youmeant about that quarter. I tell you, if I didn't cut that Kennedy out of the mint set myself I'd have thought it cleaned ! It fascinates me in a way though. I think I'm going to send it to NGC for the hell of it. Why not right?

[CarlWohlforth]

I've been looking at a lot of Roosevelt dimes lately. Most of them are graded MS 66 or MS 67 FB. I was surprised to see so many with noticable evidence of die polishing in the fields. None of them bothered me. I could imagine it being distracting in a gem seated coin though.

 

[RobertB]

I think in the smaller coins with less blank space it's not so bad. Anything over and including half dollars however can be seriously affected I think. It generally doesn't bother me.

[Tradedollarnut]

The James A Stack 1871-CC Seated Dollar was struck from an extensively polished die. The coin is rife with raised die lines and, yes, they are distracting. However, the fact that they were mint caused was certainly taken into account on the final grade assigned.

[Oldtrader3]

I am always amazed at how many Mercury Dimes are missing details on the bridge of their nose due to excessive die polishing.

[RobertB]

Actually my wife finally got into coins this year and went with Mercurys. The die polishing in this series is a frequent topic of coin conversation with us. The mint workers really put some elbow grease into cleaning down those puppies!