Metal flow vs cleaning lines on Buffalos

[Fosdick]

I’m having trouble distinguishing between metal flow lines and improper cleaning lines. The background fields of my buffalo nickels are filled with lines. My guess is if there are just a few, very straight lines, they are cleaning lines. Are buffalo nickels prone to cleaning and flow lines, more so than other US coins?

[DWLange]

Buffalo Nickels, due to the fact that their imagery fills almost the entire field on both sides, were very destructive to dies. The dies eroded quickly creating erosion patches on the Indian's neck and chin, as well as deep furrows in the fields. The Mint's attempt to restore such dies to usable condition resulted in the two-feathers and three-legs die states which have become popular with collectors. It's very evident on this 1916 2-feathers nickels, which shows erosion patches in both the fields and the Indian's neck:

https://www.ngccoin.com/variety-plus/united-states/nickels/buffalo-five-cents-1913-1938/819518/

Cleaning lines will be much more shallow, and they cut below the surface of the coin. By shining a light at a steep angle to the coin you should be able to see whether the lines are raised (in the die) or incused (on that specific coin).

[Fosdick]

Thanks again for the new perspective of evaluating my coins. I have several Buffalos that possibly have cleaning marks on them. Trouble is, they are DDO and/or DDR varieties too. If a coin is graded Cleaned - Uncirculated Details, will NGC still list the variety or RPM on the holder?

[Fosdick]

I have a very interesting Buffalo with die clash images from the obverse, punched through to the reverse. I was going to send you a picture and more descriptive detail, but thought it might not be the appropriate thing to do in this venue. I'm going to have it cleaned and graded eventually. The cost of sending in a coin that I know will be graded as Improperly Cleaned, causes me to hesitate. I know that you would be very interested to see this coin. Please give me your thoughts if there is anything I should do beyond the normal submission process. Thank you.