1921 "Mush" - strike? Post Mint Damage? Acid Treatment?

[Windycity]

Welcome opinions on what is going on with this 1921 Morgan. Assume acid treatment but surface is relatively smooth. What do you think is going on here?

[vampicker]

Post mint polished to death. Likely something like one of those old shoe buffers

[VamHelsing]

Looks fishy to me.

[Kissov]

I've got a 1921 very similar to this one (it is around here somewhere).

I'm not sure that over-polishing explains this. The obverse has pretty good detail but fades off at "UNUM". The reverse looks OK for most of the wreaths and the eagle's tail. The matte finish doesn't suggest polishing either.

I suppose it is possible that someone took a Dremel to this in spots.

Could this be a die-trial strike?

[vampicker]

...sigh....

[colwillys]

Could this have been used in the nuke process like some of the Peace dollars .

What is the weight of this thin dollar .

[Windycity]

Coin is 26.4 grams

[RogerB]

Suggest looking at the edge; that will tell you what was done.

[Windycity]

Edge looks normal

[vampicker]

I'm not sure I was clear about this. This is a genuine dollar that has been subjected to horrible post mint abuse more damaging than whizzing. I'm not guessing about this. The only thing that's speculative is what type of rotary brushing tool that did this evil deed. This thing is worth melt.

[fogie]

VAMPICKER is right on the money here. Polished to death!

[Kissov]

Look, I'm not saying this dollar has not had a rough life.

But if I showed you this:

one.jpg (28.27 KiB) Viewed 3620 times

Would you say polished to death?

This, perhaps.

two.jpg (9.16 KiB) Viewed 3620 times

The pattern here, especially on the obverse, shows tremendous control over whatever process was applied. To what end? Clearly not to make it shiny.

[vampicker]

If you feel I'm wrong don't let me stop you from going out and buying more coins like this.

[DHalladay]

John:

Take a wild guess... how many Morgans have you individually and critically inspected over the years?

[vampicker]

At least a million. And coins in general, it's more like two million