Hello Please take a look at this quarter.

[jschan07]

This is a Washington quarter 1981 - P. The mark in front of the face appears to have a pattern but I do not know what to make of it.

[Petespockets55]

It's really difficult to tell if the anomaly is raised.

My first thought was staining of some sort.

[MintErrors]

Is that area lower ?
what I am trying to determine is if it has a chance at a lamination issue.
the thing is the area near the nose. The semi circles stays pretty consistent to the north and south of the nose. The nose doesn't appear to be damaged....if the nose was flattened, I would suspect foul play, like a vise job or other post mint damage.

[occnumis2021]

imo, if this is what the op is talking about, it is just staining or something on the surface. seen it a lot and it seems to thow a lot of people off, especially from pics online.


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[jschan07]

The nose is raised above the surface and it did not push the rim down

[MintErrors]

The nose is raised above the surface and it did not push the rim down

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ok...what about the area? Is it lower than the flat field of the coin ? If it is not, then the people thinking it's staining will probably have the correct answer. It could very well have some sort of residue there as well.

[jschan07]

If it is staining why would it not affect any of the areas that are raised ie. nose, lettering, or rim edge of the coin.

[occnumis2021]

If it is staining why would it not affect any of the areas that are raised ie. nose, lettering, or rim edge of the coin.

have you ever seen liquids etc get splashed around. inconsistency in the #1 rule. the only rule is pretty much physics/gravity. it goes where and how it does because it can.

if you really need some more discussion for this quarter, if you look at the image i posted above of yours, take an image like that but at an angle WITHOUT it going all overexposed black & white like a couple of your images in your first post.

that should help clear things up.

it is possible but i doubt it that whatever landed/placed on the quarter could've been acidic. my main point isn't so much what it is but what it isn't and it isn't a mint error that i've ever seen and looks just like hundreds of coins people post online with various staining.

there are other people here with vast experience, you can listed to them if you like.

happy hunting.

[MintErrors]

If it is staining why would it not affect any of the areas that are raised ie. nose, lettering, or rim edge of the coin.

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Those areas are higher and subject to wear, most of it was probably rubbed off. The post mint damage didn't have to happen yesterday. It could have happened decades ago.

Again,, if it is not incused, or sunk into the coin, its not a strike through nor a lamination issue.

[occnumis2021]

another thing that can throw us off is that clear hard goup that ends up on coins. not sure if people used it to attach the coins to something but it is a real pain to get off. acetone sometimes isn't enough. i have one now, an 1800s foreign silver coin and with a toothpick/acetone and a few tries/soaking, i only got off about 70% but the reason i mention it is because it really distorts light and makes weird stuff seem to happen/appear on coins. i THOUGHT the coin may have had more damage on the rev but it was mostly the clear hard goup, thankfully.

[MintErrors]

The OP hasn't answered the question whether the area in question was sunk into the coin at least twice.
Its at a point to where I am done with this post.

[jschan07]

Can anyone help me with how I can check if it's lower is there some way for me to test?

[occnumis2021]

Can anyone help me with how I can check if it's lower is there some way for me to test?

if you are able to see that washington's bust is above the field, you can simply look at the area in question and see if it is higher or lower than the field, or as i postulate, even with the field.

[jschan07]

It is lower than the nose and the writing noticeably