I have researched what this coin would be but still haven't found a good answer or a consensus from other folks. I think the best answer is not a PMD but a 'minor' error? Anyone have any thoughts? Someone else suggested grease stuck in die, but I have two of them that look identical to my eyes. Also notice that there are two stars that have flaws.
I have other good ones so I'm not so much worried about these two but rather more curious as what to classify them as.
Others would be a thread on another site that starts with 'coin'. Here are both together. With at least two in existence that look nearly identical I'm wondering if there are more. I understand they are technically incomplete and such but still unsure what happened to them hence my quest to properly identify them. Here are both of them together. And thanks for the welcome.
Maybe you will be lucky and this will end up as a named minor variety and they will be worth more. "Scratch-and-Sniff Star 2" or some such thing. In other news, I was not exactly happy with the condition of my proof 2023 Peace dollars. They all had issues near the middle and top leftside fields right alongside the rim. Dont have a photo to show yet. Seems they also had some issues with the Morgan proofs...
The frosted parts of the design are created by chemically abrading those areas with acid. Apparently, some of the area of those stars did not get fully abraded. And since it is on the die it can/will appear on more than one coin. It might be on every coin struck by that die. Anyway, that's my opinion.
They've been using laser frosting exclusively for at least ten years, haven't they? The rest of your point stands, though. They missed spots when frosting this die. If someone submitted one of these coins for grading, what would it get? 69? 68? Lower? (I generally figure 69 is for "we spotted something you peons will never see", and this issue kind of jumps out at you.)
I thought they used lasers nowadays... The United States Mint now employs a special process that allows the mint technician to frost specific areas of the coin selectively. The coin die that will be used to produce Proof coins is first polished to a brilliant mirrored surface. The technician then loads the coin die into a machine that is computer controlled and selectively uses a laser to frost specific areas of the die. He or she also can control the density and depth of the frosting process to yield different finishes on the same coin.
I just saw the laser reference after my screen refreshed. Although it is not obvious in the pictures the top half of the star is missing. This tells me that there was 'something' in the die. Whether it was there before or after the frosting laser I guess I'll never know. Unless there are more and someone from the mint says what happens.
Yeah, "struck through" is old news, but I wonder if "lasered through" is a possibility (which would of course affect all coins struck by that die unless/until it's refinished)?
