Making the Grade: Tooling or Smoothing?

You’ve all heard that a picture is worth a thousand words, and possibly most of us would agree; however, you need to know what you are looking at, or the image will be useless. That especially applies to numismatics. My thought for this column is to post a lot of images with just a few words.

I’ve been fortunate to be able to examine lots of different things at powers of magnification well beyond normal for the average collector or coin dealer, and it has become a blessing. I’ve written before about how easy it is for me to identify something I see on a coin using just a hand lens because I’ve seen that same thing before in greater detail while using a stereo microscope! I like to participate in the Internet coin forums to learn new things and help answer questions from other members. The experience of viewing coins very closely has helped me to identify many of the things I see on the Internet just from the magnified images posted of tiny areas of a coin. Thus, an unusual characteristic can be identified with just a few words without the need to see the rest of the coin.

Now the question arises as to what to call what we see in an image. Words mean something, and it is best we all use the same word to describe each characteristic we find on our coins. Recently, in one of the coin forums I read, someone called wear from circulation “smoothing” in brackets. This was a total misuse of that word. Although another member corrected him, I’m hopeful his usage does not catch on. Let’s look at some things we see on coins associated with actual “smoothing” that fall under the act of “tooling.”

“Tooling” is anything done in a strictly mechanical fashion to the surface of a coin by a person with an object (the tool) hard enough to change its surface. That eliminates any form of cleaning with an abrasive substance. Tooling takes many forms with separate names. Amazingly, a very long time ago, some of these practices were considered acceptable to collectors.

Spot Removal: Tooling scratches into the surface of a coin in an attempt to remove any type of defect covering a tiny area. Much of the time, these spots are a corrosion product; however, I have seen spot removals attempted on black debris struck into a coin and planchet flaws.

Re-engraved or Altered Design: Adding or strengthening a coin’s original design details. This is seen in various degrees of execution and perfection. When very skillfully done and covered up with a chemical alteration to tiny parts of a coin’s design, such as the chain mail on a Standing Liberty quarter, it may be difficult to detect unless you are specifically looking for that type of alteration. Efforts range from obvious repairs to design parts to the subtle addition of hair strands.

Burnishing: Smoothing out a coin’s surface. This practice is especially seen on coins composed of copper alloys and is done to flatten out or remove a corroded surface, scratches, and other defects. In this image, a chop mark has been removed from the field.

Graffiti: Carving letters, numbers, or a design that is foreign to the coin into its surface. When this is done artistically, it is called engraving. Pictured is some Chinese graffiti.

Chasing: The displacement of metal from one part of a coin to another. It is similar to smoothing but was used to build up enough material to form a design element, such as the embossed “D” on this 1911 cent. This is an old technique of alteration that is rarely seen anymore.

You may also like:

What is Eye Appeal?

Certifying Cast Coins

The Buried Treasure of Oak Island

F. Michael FazzariAuthor

Making the Grade: Tooling or Smoothing?

Close inspection reveals more than meets the eye. Understanding proper terms for coin surface changes, like “tooling” versus “smoothing,” keeps collectors accurate and informed.

F. Michael Fazzari