over polished areas good or bad?

[demetri]

Im looking at a beautiful 1882 o morgan dollar that has some real hard over polishing on the tail feathers between the legs, in front of the ear and just below the ear. I know die polish lines are indicators for vams but what about over polishing? Is it a thing, I mean is it also used as an indicator or can over polishing by itself be vam worthy?? Are they good or bad??

[RogerRock]

In the world of die varieties, an over polished area is good because it represents a departure from the original design intention and creates a design change which is the definition of a coin variety. Major design changes are the most interesting and often receive a listing (VAM number) whereas minor over polished area/areas are not listed.

Coin collectors who desire perfect,sharp, prooflike, early die state, complete coin design will avoid coins with over polished areas and consider them "bad".

[demetri]

Thank you so much, that is an excellent understanding, I get it. Here are pictures of the coin in question, an 1882 O

shows lines in ear and heavy polishing under ear

polish-lines.jpg (106.11 KiB) Viewed 635 times

A better shot

polish-lines-2.jpg (156.21 KiB) Viewed 635 times

eye pitting

pitting2.jpg (105.24 KiB) Viewed 635 times

behind eye pitting

pitting4.jpg (117.79 KiB) Viewed 635 times

[ljs123]

My first thought when someone mentions over polished hair on an 82-O is to look for an O/S.
With the lines inside the ear, have you looked at VAM-5 or 46? The same obverse was used for both.

http://ec2-13-58-222-16.us-east-2.compu ... 82-O_VAM-5

http://ec2-13-58-222-16.us-east-2.compu ... 2-O_VAM-46

[demetri]

My first thought when someone mentions over polished hair on an 82-O is to look for an O/S.
With the lines inside the ear, have you looked at VAM-5 or 46? The same obverse was used for both.

http://ec2-13-58-222-16.us-east-2.compu ... 82-O_VAM-5

http://ec2-13-58-222-16.us-east-2.compu ... 2-O_VAM-46

You are EXACTLY right it is a 46

Thank you