1972-D Kennedy Half Dollar Interesting Die Scratches

[ilikeikes]

Never seen this before on any coin...not even going to surmise what happened.
Opinions welcomed.
Thanks
Cal
G.

[diamond]

I can't tell from here if they're die scratches or post-strike damage. I suspect the latter because the lines are weakest in the deepest part of his ear. This is the area where they should be strongest.

[jcuve]

I have to agree with Mike, the easiest explanation is damage to the coin.

If something was rubbed against the die face, the area in question would be the deepest part of the die, a strange place to be damaged - additionally, as Mike noted, the higher parts of the die in the area impacted, which are the lowest parts of the ear on the struck coin, should have been impacted more severely than adjacent areas - or least impacted to a degree.

I have recently examined several coins with weird, small, parallel die scrapes - all were in the fields (the highest part of the die face). It isn't impossible to be die damage, it seems rather improbable though given the photos provided...