Strike vs Lustor (easy read about classics)

[WoodenJefferson]

Link to Coin World article

 

By Eric von Klinger

COIN WORLD Staff

 

Sharpen your skills by reading about lustor, frosty finishes, satin and prooflike finishes on classic coins.

 

Educating...agree with author?

[bsshog40]

Thanks, always looking for new info to put in my notebook.

[michael]

Luckily for collectors, luster is a key ingredient only in grading Mint State or Proof coins.

 

proof coins??? brilliant proofs for the most part if properly made have absolutely no lustre

 

other than that an excellent article that sums up to the point, the varying degrees of surfaces imparted by the dies on business strike federal coinage.

[RWB]

Only to add….according to mint documents, what is now called a “satin” surface (1909-1910 proof gold, 1921, 1922 HR, 1922 LR proof Peace dollars, and a few others) is the original surface of the new die. In addition to medal-press proofs, it would be present on the first few strikes from production dies before they acquire metal flow. Some 1921 Peace dollars made on the first day of production have a “satin” field (something many collectors dislike). This term is the same as the so-called “Roman proof.”

 

Sandblast proofs were made by literally sandblasting a “satin” proof. It was the same process for gold (1907-08, 1911-15) or silver (1921, 1922 LR proof Peace dollars, and some commemoratives).

 

Brilliant proofs require pre-production polishing of dies and often the planchets.