1984P US Washington quarter - Lamination & broadstrike

[roamingcavalier]

Hi - I recently acquired a 1984 P US Washington quarter that appears to be made only of copper, and has absolutely no reeding
on the outside edge. Research tells me that this is a possible lamination error and a minor broadstrike, would anyone be able to confirm this
at least to the point where I might follow it up with certification? Thanks!

[Daniel]

Welcome to the forum and thanks for posting. Anyway, the coin would be a possible missing clad layer if anything. If it has no reeding then it might have been damaged post mint. Can you give us a view of the edge reeding? Also, it's best to use another a US quarter for comparison since other countries use slightly different minting processes.

[roamingcavalier]

Thanks for your reply! Here are a couple of pics of the edge - It doesn`t seem to be scratched or hammered, so I`m a little puzzled... any further help is most appreciated! :)

[Daniel]

The edge die imparts the reeding as well as the collar, so I can conceive how there's no edge reeding but it still has a collar. So it must have been tampered with and could also be the reason it appears not to have any cladding. I know you say it doesn't look pounded or grinded, but there's tools that can polish surface smoothly and it could have circulated a bit further smoothing the edge.

[roamingcavalier]

I dug this up 3 days ago on an MD about 6 inches down by a tree, I thought it was a large cent at first. It has probably been interred for a long time, but it`s only 1984 ... could the nickel have corroded off somehow...

[Daniel]

No, I can't see nickels erroding off a copper planchet and the copper looking so "clean", then again, a dug copper coin usually doesn't look this good, so I am not sure if it's toned nickel plating or what. It's still interesting and to find this coin at 6 inches takes some tweeking and some decent hardware :thumbsup: I hate to dig into roots as well.

I was at an old home site about a mile into the woods, and got a signal, but didn't bring a big enough shovel :l The roots where dense.

[roamingcavalier]

Yes, that`s what I thought too - it took me nearly a half an hour to find it and I almost gave up but I was with a friend who had a pin pointer and we were convinced it was close, even though obviously under a root about the thickness of a child`s arm - I hacked away at it and must have dislodged the coin when I saw it fall into the slightly deeper hole I had dug around the root - like I said, at first glance I thought it was an LC until I saw Washington`s head!

There was a lot of change in the area, about 25 square feet I found about $7 total, mostly Canadian (park in Toronto) - there was other American change, but nothing nickel even remotely this color - it was the lack of edge reeding that really got me wondering - I don`t have another US quarter at the moment (my collection is Canadian coins) so I had to use a Canadian quarter for the color reference.

In any case, it definitely seems like an enigma one way or the other, I think I will send it off to NGC to have it possibly certified (I hope it`s worth the $100 or so!)

Thanks for your insight! :)

[roamingcavalier]

Found this interesting http://www.ebay.ca/itm/Missing-Rev-Clad ... 329wt_1161

note the color similarity to mine!

[Nolifeking]

I wouldn't be too concerned with sending it off. I've found a lot of quarters with my metal detector and they all appear like this. Dimes and nickels will as well. They get the discoloration just from being in the ground. It will probably come back as a normal coin with environmental damage (being in the ground). Sorry to say :dunno

[roamingcavalier]

Thank you for your insight - this is precisely why I`m hesitant to send it off - I`m sure I`ll dig up some more in the coming weeks, if I run into another with a similar problem, then I`ll know that you`re probably right....

[Daniel]

While I don't claim to be an expert on every mint error, knowing the minting process and metal reactions with different environments, it's safe to deduce 99% of what's going on with a coin, then add a lifetime of examining coins in so many different conditions and alterations, and I can at least come up with a couple possible explanations.

I do like your plan, try to find more for comparison, since you have the coin in hand you have an advantage. At the least it might save you some submission fees by posting images here.

Anyway, if this coin didn't have a collar to go a long with the absense of reeding then I would have recommended sending it off. One just never knows sometimes.

[roamingcavalier]

Thanks so much guys - I will keep you posted on any developments :)

[Daniel]

Please do, some of us metal detect but enjoy seeing other detector's find.

[roamingcavalier]

I was looking on another forum and there is someone with a similar reeding issue (for a 1987 quarter) and seems to think that the collar die may have been deteriorated - check it out, what do you think... http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/sho ... p?t=665602

[Daniel]

Sounds like they have no idea either. I just know you can't have a collar without edge reeding since it can't happen during the minting porcess. Anything thaqt can't happen during the minting process is some form of damage.

[roamingcavalier]

An MD buddy just posted this pic to me, he found this quarter - and doesn`t seem to have another LOL

Hi Vincent, I've found that saltwater can make coins turn rust coloured. Yours seems to be a darker brown though. Just for comparison here's a US quarter that I found at a saltwater beach. Most of the coins there were this colour.``

[roamingcavalier]

Very salty tree then... LOL

[Daniel]

In wonder what you would come up with doing a soil test?

[roamingcavalier]

We use a lot of de-icing salt in Toronto in the winter for walkways etc and the tree where mine was found is about 10-12 feet away from a walkway that runs along the side of the park I was in - could be that the salt was laid over ice then later shoveled around the base of the tree, and the salt melted into the soil in the spring - repeat this several times and it all makes sense (unfortunately LOL) - I have ordered a MS 1984 P quarter online that should be here soon, I'll be checking circumference, thickness, and if I can find someone with a proper scale, weight.

[Daniel]

Interesting. I never thought about the ice-melt. It's good information.

[danielle.arnold]

Hello hello I'm Danielle I have found in 1984 Washington quarter with a p mint mark That's filled in also it looks like either someone has taken tape on it and it's peeling off or it's from the from the mint on the edge it looks like half of its copper it's a different color I'm a send pictures can somebody please help

[Daniel]

This coin is just damaged and a broad struck coin is larger in diameter than a normal coin of the same denomination. You coin has been cut around the edges and is a damaged coin but not a mint error.

[Paul]

:welcome:

I agree with Daniel here, this is (more than) Post – Mint Damage, this is a mangled.