Circular die scratches or Lathe lines?

[jay4202472000]

Maybe this pic or the next will add some clarity for you guys. Thanks for really looking at this for me. Still got fingers crossed for lathe lines!

[jay4202472000]

One more here.

[Maineman750]

That sounds good in theory coop.But I'll add the fact that the scratches can be as deep as lathe lines. I'm by no means an error expert, but I did spend almost 8 years in a machine shop, inspecting surfaces was one of my duties.One thing a machinist might do is hold a wire brush to the surface of the die to polish visible lathe lines while the piece is rotating in the die. Those lines may have been deeper before hubbing, but this is all that is left.
I am thinking of going to a local machine shop and having a reasonable facsimile produced so I can take pictures to show what lathe lines actually look like on an unpolished or incompletely polished die blank. They are symmetrical due to the way the cutting tool feeds into the workpiece. A wire brush or polishing wheel is not so consistent due to the flexibility of the wires and that pressure is applied by a human.

[mikediamond]

I suppose it's possible that an unusual method was used to polish the cone-shaped face of the blank working die, one that left fine circular scratches.

[coop]

I suppose it's possible that an unusual method was used to polish the cone-shaped face of the blank working die, one that left fine circular scratches.

If so this had to have been done, before the die was starting to be prepared as it shows on almost all devices including the tops of some devices.

[Maineman750]

Actually, that's my theory coop. The lathe operator cut the die blank to a taper, used a wire brush or emory cloth to smooth it off, and sent it down the line to be polished.. The final polishing process was skipped or not done correctly for . We'll never know for sure.
I might add that when I polish metals, I use a wire brush as the first step, then switch to sanding belts which get progressively finer until I use the buffing wheel and compound. If you bear down too hard with any of the first steps, you'll have lines that remain.There are a lot of ways wire brush marks could occur.

[Scott99]

Seems to make sense to me... Here's some coins I found that show the scratches going 'over' the design like lathe lines appear. As for the OP coin, I think it's a great example to send to Jason and get his in-hand opinion.

[liveandievarieties]

I agree Matthew- those are definitely die scratches too, very similar to the OP's coin.

[Maineman750]

Seems to make sense to me... Here's some coins I found that show the scratches going 'over' the design like lathe lines appear. As for the OP coin, I think it's a great example to send to Jason and get his in-hand opinion.

Matt, they pretty much match Jason's illustration on the link I posted on the first page of this thread....right down to appearing on the devices. The only difference is that he shows obverse scratches.

[jay4202472000]

Let me look closely at the obverse again when I get home this evening. It may very well be from the same die as the one Jason has illustrated on errorvariety.com. The coin I have has a couple of stains on the obverse that was causing me problems. I do remember there are curved scratches on the obverse, they just didn't seem to be radial to the center of the coin. I'll check again and post a pic if I can get them to show through the stains. Thanks again for the discussion guys!

[coop]

The center images looks most interesting:

[jay4202472000]

This is about all I can get to show up on the obverse. There are scratches in multiple directions and a few curving. However, I can't make out any that look radial to the center of the coin. It may be the same type as Jason's illustrations, but I don't think it was struck from the same dies. I could be wrong though. I am a baby at this compared to the majority. I want to thank you all again for the thorough attention you have given this coin. I am also willing to let any of you take a hands on look if you would like. Any other comments are very welcomed.

[pennies4pennies]

To me and I am far from a expert on this. It looks like lathe lines to me with die scratches.

[Maineman750]

Those are just die scratches Jay. Thanks for posting.