1974 quarter with possible error?

[drumminjesus]

Hello! I'm not really a serious collector, but I do check all of my change for old coins, silver and such. Please excuse my lack of proper lingo.  I've never seen anything like this before and am wondering if if it's an error or some bizarre wear. 

Front and back appear normal to me but the edge is what caught my eye. The center material is inset from the surface and there is a lip where the outer layers go over the center layer. Sorry for the bad pictures. I got the best I could of the edge. Thanks!

[Mohawk]

First off, hello and welcome to the forum.

I've been looking at your pics, and I'm honestly stumped.  That doesn't happen too often with me and moderns, so I must commend you and your coin.  I initially wanted to say that it was dipped in acid or another chemical that ate at the copper more than it ate at the copper-nickel on the outside of the coin, but your coin appears to still have reeding on the copper part, even though the copper part has clearly been diminished.  I'd imagine that any acid or other corrosive would destroy the reeding.  The best I can say here is that it's some kind of damage, but what kind I really cannot say.  Sorry I couldn't solve your problem, but I wanted to respond so you knew that it was at least being looked at.  Hopefully, someone else will be able to solve this one.  Good luck!

[drumminjesus]

Thanks for your response Mohawk, and no worries! I appreciate it. I'm just curious to know what the deal is with this thing. The process of trying to find out what it is has opened my eyes to a lot of interesting facts about the history of/how coins are made and I think I'm going to be looking at any coins I get a bit closer than year, silver, or like, zinc pennies. The adventure begins!

[Just Bob]

This is not an error. It has been subjected to a substance, likely an acid, which has eaten the metal away. It dissolves the softer copper first, leaving the harder copper-nickel.

Here is a quote from Conder101, on another forum, from 2011:

And the acid eats each metal evenly so the reeds are also retained as the metal is eaten away. So the copper is eaten faster but the reed are retained even down in the bottom of the groove. Remember the reeded edge is formed by being forced against the collar during the strike so if the copper down in the grooves shows the reeds then at one time it had to have been out at the same level as the coppernickel. the only thing that could now have it down at a lower level would be the eating away of the copper by either an acid or a base. (Cited from: https://www.cointalk.com/threads/1978-indented-edge-dime.132625/)

[drumminjesus]

Interesting. Thanks Bob! 

[Mohawk]

Hey Bob,

Thanks for that!  The reeding that is still present threw me off.  I should have known Conder would have the answer to this.  That guy's knowledge is amazing!

[Just Bob]

43 minutes ago, Mohawk said:

Hey Bob,

Thanks for that!  The reeding that is still present threw me off.  I should have known Conder would have the answer to this.  That guy's knowledge is amazing!

Your instincts were on the money, Tom, it was understandable for it to have been the  reeding that threw you off. 

But, yeah, Conder101 seems to have this amazing ability to recall things that he learned decades ago. And, his reference library must be incredible!

[Mohawk]

1 hour ago, Just Bob said:

Your instincts were on the money, Tom, it was understandable for it to have been the  reeding that threw you off. 

But, yeah, Conder101 seems to have this amazing ability to recall things that he learned decades ago. And, his reference library must be incredible!

Thanks for the kind words, Bob.  I guess I was close, but no cigar.  And you're right on the money about Conder101......I wish I had his recall abilities and his library!