Here are the images of my Denver and Philadelphia sets. Since I can't have a fixed photography setup then it's hard to take images that will show the differences clearly. In this case the Denver coins have higher mirror effect compared with the Philadelphia. Today I also noticed the terrible pattern on the Island coin in the Denver set. Will ask the mint to exchange it but I am not sure if they will do it since this is just an uncirculated set.
Take a look at the denver.jpg again and note the dark spots all over the Ellis Island coin. The other side of the coin has similar dirt around the edges. I have no idea how this ended up on the coin.
US Mint is the king! At 8 P.M. Saturday night they have a very courteous and friendly customer service that didn't hustle and hassle anything. They will email a printable sticker and that package will be insured automatically. Now I will just have to cross my fingers that the replacement will be fine. I am very positively surprised.
I am not sure but it looks like this effect is coming from some machinery. I can imagine that these coins are not touched by humans while being packaged and perhaps the suction cups were not clean enough while handling the coins. Why the "dirt" pattern is different on the backside is harder to explain.
I agree it does look like grease, almost moldy looking. Mici, that is great you got such a nice response from the US Mint and they are going to exchange that Denver set for you. I don't blame you one bit, I would not be happy with the Ellis Island coin!
That does look like mold... Maybe the coin was not dried completely prior to be inserted into the holder... If storage conditions are not correct after packaging mold will grow quickly... Good thing they are exchanging it for you!!!
Jim
(A.K.A. Elmer Fudd) Be verwy verwy quiet... I'm hunting coins!!! Good Hunting!!!
Bookmarks