I have ? About a 2021 quarter or Washington crossing the Delaware it has a crack on Washingtons whole body. Can anybody say what it's from 1 1

[Bruce Pelham]

Spoiler

 

 

[Sandon]

   Welcome to the NGC chat board.

   Please note that the NGC Registry forum is for topics pertaining to the certified coin registry, not for questions like yours, which for best attention should be posted on the "Newbie Coin Collecting Questions" forum. The Administrator will likely move this topic to that form next week. Additionally, when you post photos of coins, please crop them so that they show only the coin and not the surrounding surface, and make sure that the photos are properly and evenly lit.

   Based on what I can see from the photos you submitted, the reverse of your 2021-P "Crossing the Delaware" quarter has simply been damaged by being scratched by a sharp metal object such as a knife or a nail. I observe metal displaced by such an object at the sides of the depression. This is one of the many forms of damage that may befall a coin after it leaves the mint.

    

[Bruce Pelham]

I don't think it's scratched because no metal of the coin is displaced and I can't see no drag mark just a crack

[Sandon]

   Thank you for the better photos, which reaffirm my conclusion that the coin is scratched. There are ridges of displaced metal on each side of the depression. I don't know what sort of "drag marks" would be left by a sharp point or blade.

   The usual mint caused reason for a narrow, long depression on a coin would be that the coin was struck through an object, such as a piece of wire, that was lying on the die or planchet (coin blank) when the coin was struck. Such a "strikethrough" would not show displaced metal at its sides, and the inside of the depression would likely be bright.  A die crack is a common cause of a raised line on a coin, but there would be no depression.  

   Here is a photo of the obverse of an 1806 half dollar described by PCGS, a major grading service, as "scratched".  Note the similar ridges of raised metal at the sides of the deeper scratches.

   It's possible that some other forum members will have different opinions, but I've been collecting and studying U.S. coins for over fifty years, and although I'll never know everything, I think I know what a coin that has been scratched looks like.

 

[Greenstang]

Agree, it is definitely a scratch, no way it is a crack.

[Mike Meenderink]

I also agree that it is a scratch. Now between the 3 of us you have over 120 years of experience looking at your coin. 

[powermad5000]

Hello and welcome to the forum!
 

Thank you for better secondary pics with closeups. Your quarter has a mildly deep scratch across the reverse. The displaced metal on the sides of the gouge are most easily seen in the field above his hat, and also across the letter D in UNITED, but I do see displaced metal all along the gouge in the coin.

A true cracked planchet error (of which I own one on a Mercury Dime) begins at the rim and extends inward, but is evidenced on both sides of the coin as the metal of the planchet is actually cracked. Being this gouge on your quarter is on one side of the coin only, also reaffirms that the planchet is not cracked and the line is simply a gouge, or post mint damage.

[Jason Abshier]

PMD ! Throw that Sucka back out in the wilds use in the pop machine or something and forget about it 

[The Neophyte Numismatist]

Welcome.  I agree with the others... It's a scratch.

[Henri Charriere]

To be on the safe side -- 120 years of numismatic experience, notwithstanding -- I am referring your inquiry to the resident pathologist specializing in the identification and treatment of "errors," our very own @Errorists .