Semi-Prooflike 1954-S Lincoln Cent in High Resolution

[rmpsrpms]

I go through a lot of BU rolls, and when I see PL coins I put them aside for study. This coin appears to have been struck very late in the working life of the die. It looks like the mint techs pulled both the obverse and reverse, sanded them down, and did an overall polish to mitigate the sanding scratches. Take a close look at the field just behind the neck and hair where they meet the field. You can see an area where the polishing completely obscured the sanding scratches. In most other areas on both obverse and reverse, the polishing only served to brighten up the coin.

Here's a link to the coin pics, hosted on EasyZoom. It's best to go full-screen (upper right corner of the page), and don't forget to zoom in (upper left corner) !! You can zoom in 4 times to view at highest resolution, then move around to see the details across the coin on both obverse and reverse.

https://easyzoom.com/image/125101

[physics-fan3.14]

I see lots of polishing, but I'm not seeing much reflectivity in your pictures. Is it possible to take some pics to highlight the reflectiveness of this coin? 

I keep looking for a fully PL Wheat cent, but I've yet to see one. 

[coinman1794]

12 hours ago, rmpsrpms said:

I go through a lot of BU rolls, and when I see PL coins I put them aside for study. This coin appears to have been struck very late in the working life of the die. It looks like the mint techs pulled both the obverse and reverse, sanded them down, and did an overall polish to mitigate the sanding scratches. Take a close look at the field just behind the neck and hair where they meet the field. You can see an area where the polishing completely obscured the sanding scratches. In most other areas on both obverse and reverse, the polishing only served to brighten up the coin.

Here's a link to the coin pics, hosted on EasyZoom. It's best to go full-screen (upper right corner of the page), and don't forget to zoom in (upper left corner) !! You can zoom in 4 times to view at highest resolution, then move around to see the details across the coin on both obverse and reverse.

https://easyzoom.com/image/125101

The Mint likely polished this down to a reflective sheen and, as the die began to wear, the polishing lines became more pronounced while the mirrors faded. The next step is for frost to erode everything.

[rmpsrpms]

Looking at the very high wear area at the crook of the neck, it looks like this coin was struck fairly soon after the die was polished.

I'll try to shoot it in a way to show the reflectivity. Maybe I'll use the jig I built for this purpose. My Stack and Stitch lighting is not arranged to provide direct reflections or reflectivity assessment.

[rmpsrpms]

Here is a pic showing the reflectivity of the mirrors.

 

 

[numisport]

Nice find. First photo appears to show slight mellowing but the mirrors image looks full red. Die polishing lines were common on early '50s proofs but not much repolishing until 1953. With circulation strikes all prooflikes are very attractive to me.

[rmpsrpms]

30 minutes ago, numisport said:

Nice find. First photo appears to show slight mellowing but the mirrors image looks full red. Die polishing lines were common on early '50s proofs but not much repolishing until 1953. With circulation strikes all prooflikes are very attractive to me.

The first post pic was done with lighting to show the surface details...straight-on, with lights almost axial. Only a few areas of the coin, specifically the area at back of head, show the mirrors well. I did this to show the scratches and polishing in high resolution. When you shoot with lighting that shows reflectivity, all details get lost because the reflective areas are over-saturated.

[Jade Collection]

can someone post a PL wheatie besides the 1943s which I have seen before?

[physics-fan3.14]

4 hours ago, Mk123 said:

can someone post a PL wheatie besides the 1943s which I have seen before?

No, because they don't exist. 

The one posted here is about as close as I've ever seen. 

[coinman1794]

NGC recently certified a 1941-S in MS64RD PL. That was only the second or third bronze cent, of any date or design, to be found.

[Jade Collection]

@coinman1794 are their pictures floating around of this new PL that was certified?

[coinman1794]

I've never seen it. It has to be fairly recent. I noticed it in the pop report by chance. Previously, the only other PL bronze cent, besides one 1864, was my 1970-S. It has deep mirrors over both sides, minimal polishing lines, and could not be mistaken as anything but PL. PLs from outisde the 1934 to 1955 time frame often are more obvious.

[rmpsrpms]

All the Semi-PL Wheat Cents I've come across stand out very obviously from the other coins in the roll. I've found 1940-S, 1949-S, 1953-S (which are extremely different from normal ones), 1954-S, and 1955-S.

[coinman1794]

On 9/8/2018 at 12:13 AM, rmpsrpms said:

All the Semi-PL Wheat Cents I've come across stand out very obviously from the other coins in the roll. I've found 1940-S, 1949-S, 1953-S (which are extremely different from normal ones), 1954-S, and 1955-S.

What I meant to say is that PL coins made between 1934 and 1955 don't look like PL coins of other years.