PCGS The Standart for the Rare Coin Industry

Characteristics of the planchet. Marks seen on the surface of a coin can be due to the quality of the original planchet used to produce the piece. During the process of preparing planchets, metal is rolled into long strips. Sometimes bubbles, laminations, and streaks occur which can be transferred to coins. It is not uncommon among early silver coins to see black or gray streaks, the result of carbon and other imperfections in the metal, such imperfections having been distended into streaks by the rolling process. Particularly notable laminations and streaks should be mentioned when a coin is described.

Adjustment marks are common on silver and gold coins of the late 17th and early 18th centuries and are a result of the legal requirement that such pieces be of a precise weight and value. It was not possible to consistently produce planchets of precisely the authorized weight, for such technology was not in place. It was realized that if the pieces were made too light, metal could not effectively be added, and such planchets would have to be remelted. The course pursued was to make the planchets slightly heavier than intended. Once this was done, the pieces were sent to ladies who worked at the Mint adjusting each piece. Each planchet was put on a scale, weighed, and then a file was drawn across the surface to remove any excess amount of metal. If the first filing did not suffice, then another pass with a file was used, perhaps in a different direction. The resultant planchet had parallel file grooves, ranging from light to heavy, on the surface. After this planchet was used for coinage, sometimes the file marks would not be obliterated, particularly toward the edge of the coin or on the higher parts of the coin's surface. Some adjustment marks are par for the course among silver and gold issues, particularly gold issues, of the 1790s and early 1800s, and are not usually mentioned in connection with the grade, although particularly extensive adjustment marks should be noted.

The metal from which planchets were made often had different characteristics. Collectors of early large cents know that issues of 1799, for example, almost always come with very dark brown or black coloration, due to the metal used, which came from various commercial sources. Cents of 1814 are often black, while cents dated 1836 are usually a pleasing chocolate brown color. Early Mint records indicate that freshly minted copper cents and half cents in some instances were dark, not brilliant, as they left the press. Among later coins, bronze Indian cents and Lincoln cents made at the San Francisco Mint in 1909 were struck on planchets made from an alloy giving the pieces a light yellow or straw color, rather than the normal red or orange surface, after striking.