Weak Strike vs Wear

Eric Babula wrote:

Alan Williams wrote in news:41FEAB35.11F53574
@atlanticbb.net:

Thanks for your thoughts, Alan! So, you're kinda the cent expert. How do
you "see" full luster on a dark, chocolate brown early copper cent? I'm
thinking the dark brown toning will pretty much cover the luster, wouldn't
it?

I have some Half Cents that might be BU, or might be AU. I dunno.

I have handled all too few BU Large cents to state a certainty. ;-) But
to my eye, they look 'sealed' on the surfaces, no metal loss, no slight
rub. Even brown, you can still see the luster lines, those metal flow
lines that live on uncirculated coins.

Alan
'and stop teasing me with the thought'

I've noticed that on silver coins there is sometimes a slight color
difference on worn coins, usually visible under a 10X loupe. Human sweat
and grease, I suppose.

--K

"Phil DeMayo" wrote in message
news:1107203320.aa76345ac08e5c1854cc36d8699d16da@t eranews...
On 31 Jan 2005 19:06:41 GMT, Eric Babula wrote:

Is there a source that can teach me to tell the difference between Weak
Strike and Wear on an MS/near-MS coin? Books? Internet sites?

Look for the luster.

View the suspect area from various angles. If there is unbroken luster
present it is a weak strike. If there is no luster....wear.

"Frank Provasek" wrote in message
nk.net...
You have to be familar with the striking characteristics of the various
years and mints
in a series. Most series have a specialist guidebook available with a
page about every date
and mintmark.

Here is a well known horribly struck issue

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...tem=3955447974


Ha. That's a good example, Frank. Back in about 1997, I started collecting
unc walkers, the short set. I won two in the old Coin Universe auctions and
one was an early 40s "S" mint, I don't remember the exact year. It was PCGS
slabbed, but when I received the coin I was sure the coin in the slab had
replaced the original, cuz I was looking at a Fine, not an MS. That was my
first encounter with the weak strike "S" walkers.

BTW, there were no luster breaks.

Bill

Well, my weak strikes (all two of them) have a sharp rim and mushy looking
devices. My DE quarter has a decent obverse, but weak reverse. But it's the
rim that gives me the clue that the coin is a weak strike and not wear.

Jerry

"Doug Freyburger" writes:

Eric Babula wrote:
Doug Freyburger wrote:
Eric Babula wrote:

Is there a source that can teach me to tell the difference
between
Weak Strike and Wear on an MS/near-MS coin? Books? Internet
sites?

Look at some new dimes under magnification. The US Mint
seems to use dime dies longer than they should, so dimes
show pretty bad die-wear to the point it can be hard to
read the last digit of the date without slight magnification.

What I get from looking at dimes: The edge of the die wears
faster than the center. Most of the time. If the coin has
sharp imaging near the center and is blurred near the edge,
I think that pattern comes from die wear not circulation
wear.

What about "mushy coins", like the Peace Dollar, Franklin Half, or
Washington Quarter. Not much detail in the first place. Hard for me
to
tell what's what.

Seems like so many of you know what you're doing. Am I the only one
who
has this problem?

Chuckle. The whole reason I used brand new dimes as an
example is brand new coins are the only ones you can be
reasonably certain that any wear was on the die not
while in circulation. If I see the cashier unroll a
bunch of shiney-edge dimes and then I see that the
dimes suck, I know I got bad die-wear. No way I can do
that with older demoninations.

But my point of wear patterns: center still clear edge
bad. Have others seen this?

"Eric Babula" wrote in message
1...
Is there a source that can teach me to tell the difference between Weak
Strike and Wear on an MS/near-MS coin? Books? Internet sites?

Or, do any of you have tell-tale signs that you can describe to me, that
I should look for in order to tell the difference?

I watched the ANA video, Guide to Grading Mint State Coins, and it
pretty much brushes over the topic, not explaining in much detail, or
showing any pictures of coins with Wear vs coins with a Weak Strike.

I have a number of O-mint Morgans that could be just weak strike (very
likely with the O-mints, but...), or might not be MS at all. I really
don't know. I also have a 1921 Peace Dollar that was touted as Weak-
Strike MS-64, but looks like an EF-40 to me (I bought it early on in my
ebaY "career", and think I might have been taken to the cleaners on this
one). How do I know?

TIA for any advice, or leads to lessons for me!

--
Eric Babula
Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA

Take any coin outside in sunlight or under a bright light and hold at an
angle. Any rubs will magically appear when you tilt it the right way.
I've seen some really nice triple luster coins be all AU once you take them
out in the sun. It doesn't take long for a new coin to get like that too.
Just sitting in rolls where they rub against each other makes them AU rather
quickly. Esp. ones with a higher relief like a Peace dollar.
I'm sure there's a ton of MS graded coins out and about that are really not
MS if you wanted to be really strict about grading.

On 31 Jan 2005 19:06:41 GMT, Eric Babula wrote:

Is there a source that can teach me to tell the difference between Weak
Strike and Wear on an MS/near-MS coin? Books? Internet sites?

Or, do any of you have tell-tale signs that you can describe to me, that
I should look for in order to tell the difference?

I watched the ANA video, Guide to Grading Mint State Coins, and it
pretty much brushes over the topic, not explaining in much detail, or
showing any pictures of coins with Wear vs coins with a Weak Strike.

I have a number of O-mint Morgans that could be just weak strike (very
likely with the O-mints, but...), or might not be MS at all. I really
don't know. I also have a 1921 Peace Dollar that was touted as Weak-
Strike MS-64, but looks like an EF-40 to me (I bought it early on in my
ebaY "career", and think I might have been taken to the cleaners on this
one). How do I know?

TIA for any advice, or leads to lessons for me!

Phil has already given you a good tip regarding luster breaks. On many of
the O mint dollars, the centers are very weakly struck. You have to look at
the feathers on the eagle's neck and right inner wing to determine if the coin
is uncirculated or not. When I have some time, I'll post examples.

--
K6AZ WEB PAGES

http://www.k6az.com/web_pages.htm