Might These Be "Trails" ?

[foundinrolls]

On a 1944 D 20 centavos of the Philippines. Might these be "Trails"? If so, are trails possibly a metal flow issue during the strike?
Thanks,
Bill

[wavysteps]

The lines that are being formed at the top of the letters are actually from die deterioration. The one big clue in deciding this die anomaly from "trails" is that these lines, which are caused by metal flow from the die aging, radiate out from the center in different directions. "Trails" on the other hand are normally single, directional lines (there are cases of "trails" with two different directions on the same die, however, this is rare) that decrease in intensity as the die ages, directly opposite of what metal flow lines do (increase in intensity as the die ages) from die deterioration.


BJ Neff

[foundinrolls]

Got it...Thanks!

The concept of "trails" is relatively new to me and I'm a nutcase at trying to understand what I'm looking at and looking for:-)

I am truly interested in understanding what the trails are and what causes them:-)

Is that part of this still questioned or are there ideas as to what the trails are?



Thanks,
Bill

[wavysteps]

Hi Bill - The best thing that I can do for you is give you the site that is dedicated to "trails / wavy steps"

http://www.1793.com/resources/traildies/traildies.htm

This gives a pretty good explanation of just what is going on with these lines and lists over 400 different dies that have them.

If you do have any questions, please feel free to ask and I'll try to answer them

BJ Neff

[foundinrolls]

Hey BJ,

That link takes me to an excellent piece of work that you've done on this!

If anyone has not checked out the link, they should! What an education!!

I was looking at the pictures when something hit me as to a possible explanation. Let me bounce this off you. This is probably something you had considered but being new at "trails" and seeing the closeups of the wavy steps, something immediately popped into my head.

This concept will take a few minutes to explain so please bear with me. Here goes:

If we know that wavy steps are found on P and D mint coins, it would seem that , as you note, the dies would be prepared in Philly and the same thing that causes this anomaly is likely to be found on coins of both Mints. (They are found on coins of both Mints)

I notice that most if not all of the coins that exhibit wavy steps also exhibit some fairly strong die polishing marks.

Let's say that I am "Joe Mintemployee" and it is my job to clean and prep the dies for Philly today and Denver tomorrow and being only one of many employees, what I do will not effect all dies but just the dies that I am working on and I then do the following:

I take a die and orient it in such a way that when I take out my little wire wheel to prep the die and clean it, that I orient the rotating wheel in the same direction as the fluting in the columns in order to remove any metal shavings or dirt that has been deposited in the fluting. By this I mean that the wire wheel is rotating in the same direction as the columns and the wires on the wheel go into the fluting on the column head on.

As the wheel is rotating, the fine wire on the wheel might take on the shape of the fluting in the column, with minute high points and low points that would mimic the lines of the column. In other words, if you look at the wire wheel where the wire meets the die, you would see the pattern of lines that has been transferred to the wire wheel by virtue of the lines in the column imparting a pattern to the wheel.

I've seen that with larger wire wheels when I work on a piece of metal during automobile restoration projects. The edge of the wire wheel if pressed into an object without varying the direction of the rotating wheel takes on the shape of the object as the wire wheel rotates.

Now, back to my prep of the dies: If the wheel is kept in the same orientation and the wire has been effected in the way that I described above, might it be possible as the wire wheel is moved beyond the columns to impart to the die, the pattern of the columns onto the steps, or the upper parts of the columns? Would it also be possible for the wire wheel to move the metal on the die that would create the steps in the direction of the rotation of the wheel causing a wavy effect to the steps?

This would seem to be a possibility and it would account or a few other things as well. If , for example, I used the same wire wheel and changed the orientation of the die or the wheel at the bottom of the columns, might it not change the angle of the waves in the steps and the lines transferred from the columns?

Further, If I noticed my "not so hot" handiwork on the die, (or dies) would it be likely that I would try to overpolish the dies to eliminate some of the deep depressions I might have added to the dies in the area of the steps?

I think I portrayed the scenario in a semi-understandable way:-)

What do you think of this as a possibility?

Thanks,
Bill

[wavysteps]

Hi Bill - So, I have you hooked on "trails / wavy steps"?

You are right, I have looked into the possibility that this could be caused by cleaning of the die and through the study, I have ruled that it could not happen. The reasons why.

1. Cleaning or abrading of the die leaves random directional lines that are narrowly spaced together and often curve. Trails and wavy steps do not curve and as a rule, have just one direction on a die (there are some instances that there will be two different directions of trails on one die, however, this is rare).

2. Lines caused by cleaning or abrasion may or may not start on a design element. Trail and wavy step lines ALWAYS start on a design element.

3. Cleaning or abrasion lines will skip over design elements, going from field to field and not affect a letter, column, etc. Trail and wavy steps will affect a design element. See post "1994 Lincoln cent with strong 'trails". This will show you how a trail line, originating from a letter will cross into a field, be seen on another letter and then go into the field again.

4. Cleaning and abrasion lines do not form precise patterns. Trails and wavy steps do, not only in the same year, but also over a large expanse of years. Look at these following dies; 1994P-1DER-023T, 1996P-1DER-014T,015T,016T, 1998P-1DER-028T AND 1999P-1DER-032T. All these dies have lines in the exact same direction, from just about the same exact design elements and the only major difference is the intensity of the lines themselves. We as humans, do not have the mental ability to be able to repeat an exact design over and over again, even in a short period of time, no less in a year period or in the furthest case, 5 year period. It is extraordinarily impossible to do so.

Due to the precise nature of these reoccurring patterns, anything with human involvement must be ruled out, with the exception of placing the blank die for hubbing and removing it after that has been accomplished. Exactly how these lines are created is still in question, but the majority of us believe it is during the hubbing procedure and is a function of the single squeeze process. My personal belief is that these lines are created after the hydraulic pressure has been relieved from the hub, but the weight of the hub and its collar are still on the die. That is the theory that I am working on.

I thank you for your interest in these anomalies and the more that you study them, the more complex and fascinating you will find them.

BJ Neff

[foundinrolls]

Hi BJ,

I gotta tell you, I always enjoy learning something new. I actually took a bag of cents that I thought I was done with and started rooting through them all over again. I am looking for the 1988 FG transitional coins and I am checking the steps on everything carefully for anything that has even the remotest signs of waviness. Nothing yet:-)

I knew about wavy steps but never really paid much attention to looking for them.

This business of waves and trails is fascinating. It seems to be on post 1982, plated composition cents produced from 1986 on. So it has to be a function of the single squeeze, if as you say, the human element is ruled out. Your explanations do rule it out so it has to be a mechanical issue during the hubbings.

I am always into finding new things to look for in my searches. Since I am in WA state now, a majority of what I see are D mint coins. I may be able to add to the knowledge base on coinage of the Denver mint by finding some more D mint wavystep coinage.

As I mentioned I am also looking to see if I come across any of the FG transition pieces on 1988 D cents. I am also trying to see if I find any 1988 reverses on 1989 D cents.

Great stuff and that website of yours on the wavysteps coinage is priceless!

Thanks for that great work!

Bill

[wavysteps]

Since the Denver Mint did not open their die shop until 1996, I suspect that their are a lot of wavy steps and trails to be found with the D on it since they were made by the Philadelphia Mint till 1995. Of course, being down in the southeast, I do not see that many Denver minted coins.

A word of advice when looking for these anomalies; use different angles of light when searching for them. They have to be at the just right angle to be seen. Actually, I find that looking at the steps up side down tends to show wavy steps better.

As far as quantity of these die anomalies, I should have just over 500 dies listed by the end of this year. The addendum 2007 has 39 new listings and I have over 100 different dies that I have not attributed, so it should bring it close to or over that figure of 500.

Thanks for your interest and if you do have any questions, just drop me a line.

BJ Neff

[foundinrolls]

Good Morning BJ,

As you probably know, I am always looking for varieties as I search through coins and I am glad that some of what I already do is what you advise:-)

I use three sources of light from different angles, I move the coin around a lot and I am very fond of looking at things upside down:-)

I find that in years past, I used to get too familiar with what a coin looks like in it's normal orientation so I would go on auto-pilot. On auto-pilot, I might miss something. A a result, I look at coins in unusual orientations and at different angles:-) so that everything doesn't begin to look the same:-)

I am having a great time looking for these anomalies. If I find any, I'll check with you to see if you need to add them to your list. Then if you need to photograph any, let me know and I'll send them off to you.

That's a little bit of the cart before the horse though:-) I have to find one first:-)

Thanks,
Bill