A couple of questions regarding silver dollars:
Question: I have an 1897-O Morgan dollar with weakly struck breast feathers on the eagle. One person told me that this was due to "basining of the dies" (whatever that means) and another said that is was due to die wear.
The second question involves a 1924-S Peace dollar which I have and which is slabbed as MS-64. It has very frosty fields, but the reverse on the middle of the eagle has many marks and nicks. How can there be marks and nicks on the eagle but now anywhere else? Also, the eagle is weakly struck, probably due to worn dies.
Your explanation would be appreciated.
Thanks.-A.B.
Answer: The weak breast feathers on the 1897-O Morgan dollar -not at all an uncommon occurrence among Morgan dollars of the New Orleans Mint of the 1890s-were not due to worn dies or "basining" (a term for dressing or resurfacing the dies), but was caused by the dies being spaced too far apart. When the dies are spaced too far apart, the metal does not flow into the deepest recesses of the dies, which on the Morgan dollar consisted of the hair strands above the ear of Miss Liberty on the obverse, and on the reverse, the aforementioned breast feathers.
The argument that such are struck from "worn" dies can be dismissed immediately, for the breast feathers are in the center of the coin where the lateral metal flow is the least, and dies would wear there last. However, I realize that "worn" dies is a very popular explanation, and one that has found its way into many catalogues and reference books.
With regard to the 1924-S Peace dollar, the same situation occurred. The dies were spaced slightly too far apart, and the metal did not fill the deepest recesses of the dies. Hence, the eagle was not struck up fully at the center. The marks you see were, for the most part, marks not acquired by the coin after it was struck--otherwise the frosty fields of the coin and other areas would have many marks as well. Rather, these were marks on the original planchet. As the metal in the planchet did not fully fill the deepest recesses of the die, original marks, nicks, etc. on the planchet remained on the finished coin. The same situation is readily evident on numerous Liberty Walking half dollars in which the highest parts of the obverse sometimes have marks whereas the fields are fully frosty.
Q. David Bowers has been in the rare coin business since 1953 when he was a teenager. The author has served as president of the American Numismatic Association (1983-1985) and president of the Professional Numismatists Guild (1977-1979), is a recipient of the highest honor bestowed by the ANA (the Farran Zerbe Award), was the first ANA member to be named Numismatist of the Year (1995), has been inducted into the Numismatic Hall of Fame (at the ANA Headquarter in Colorado Springs), is a recipient of the highest honor bestowed by the Professional Numismatists Guild (The Founders' Award), and has received more "Book of the Year Award" and "Best Columnist" honors given by the Numismatic Literary Guild than any other writer. He has has written over 40 books, hundreds of auction and other catalogues, and several thousand articles.
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