I am brand new to collecting Perth Lunar coins but I may have come across something very unusual. About 5 months ago I purchased a single 1 oz bullion Mouse (series 2) from a seller on eBay. Then, less than 2 months ago I purchased a sleeve of 20 shrink wrapped (allegedly a Perth Mint sleeve) from a different seller. When I compare a coin from the sleeve to the single I purchased earlier, there is a difference in part of the finish. On the coin from the sleeve, the mice and pumpkins are proof-like shiny but on the single coin, the pumpkins are less shiny than the 2 mice. Has anyone seen this or heard of any finishing changes the Perth Mint did at some point in the minting process? Does your 1 oz silver Mouse have very shiny pumpkins (shiny as the 2 mice) or are your pumpkins less shiny than the mice? What could account for the different finish? Would the Perth Mint be able to answer something like this....my guess is no based on what I read other's experiences have been with the Mint. Thanks for any serious suggestions.
So, I looked at the 2 coins above side-by-side more closely. On the first, only the mice are mirror-like shiny. The pumpkins and straw are matte. While on the coin from the sleeve of 20, the mice are mirror-like shiny and the pumpkins and straw are not matte but rather in-between matte and mirror-like shiny. The finish definitely looks different on the 2 coins. The design looks identical but the finish doesn't.
You are probably going to say they look exactly alike but it's not easy to take a good pic which shows the difference that is readily noticeable by eye. Anyway here are the pics... IMAGE 1: DIRECT LINK: http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y6...use/PerthLunar2008YearofMouseside-by-side.jpg Single coin purchase on left, coin from sleeve on right IMAGE 2: DIRECT LINK: http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y6...se/PerthLunar2008YearofMouseside-by-side1.jpg Slightly different angle
Hi, the finish on the actual coins look different. As I noted initially, the coin on the left, the pumpkins and straw are not shiny but the pumpkins and straw on the coin on the right is shiny....not quite as shiny as the mice but noticeably more shiny when compared to the same features on the coin on the left. I find it very difficult to get perfectly even lighting without very strong reflections from the light so I did my best to position light as to not get very strong interfering reflections.
The shininess of the mice on both coins is the same, but the difference is in the finish or shininess pumpkins and straw. Textures on pumpkins and straw appear the same (bumps on pumpkins, etc) but the finish looks different. Particularly noticeable difference is with the straw. On your Mouse coins, is the straw nearly as shiny as the mice? On the coin on the right, the straw is nearly as shiny as the mice while definitely the straw on the coin on the left is flatter....frosted. I know it doesn't show up all that well in the pictures.
The obverse on both coins looks identical.....the effigy is shiny like the mice. The difference is on the reverse side with the features I noted having a different finish or look. Could one be an early minting and the other not? Could that account for the finish difference of the straw and pumpkins?
Spanner, thanks for that suggestion. The one on the left was the lone one I initially purchased. The one on the right is from the sleeve of 20. I also initially thought that maybe someone handled the actual coin on the left but that wouldn't account for why only the pumpkins and straw shininess is different. If the straw and pumpkins finish is supposed to be noticeably different than the finish of the mice, then the single coin (on left) is fine but the coin from the sleeve of 20 (the coin on the right) is a bit strange because the straw and pumpkins are noticeably more shiny in comparison to the coin on left and almost as shiny as the mice.....that's especially true for the straw as it is almost mirror like in finish.
When I first read post I thought: coloured mouse rubbed with acetone but after looking at pics, I don't see a difference either.. Something to do with the mintage catch up, hobswap?
STC, thanks for chiming in. You are on the track that I think may account for the difference. I just read that last year, the Perth Mint minted it's final batch to close out the 300,000 because in 2008, not all 300,000 were sold. Question - when the Perth Mint sold the final batch in 2011, could the finish be different from those coins minted in 2008 or previously?
Could simply be aging. Recently bought some 2012 1/2oz gold Dragons that look 20 years old - still in the original capsules, I don't know whether they've been sitting in sunlight or something, but they have that "old gold" look you expect to see on 1980s-1990s gold nugget coins.
I want to acknowledge that from the photos, the 2 coins' finish look exactly alike. I know that, but they are not. I think the answer to the difference in finish may be (as STC seemed to allude to) the 2011 release of the Mouse....new dies perhaps???
If the stamping pressures are slightly different between both runs, it can account for some parts of the design not so fill out or be as smooth/shiny as before. This can also happen if the coin in marginally thinner. We noticed this when we were minting our XAG Rams.
goldpelican, that's an interesting thought...hmmm. If that were the case, then all surfaces of one of the coins would look "old" but the mice and effigy of the queen on both coins is identically shiny...mirror-like shiny. It's the pumpkins and especially the straw that look to have a different finish comparatively by eye. The other thing is, if age is the culprit, is it really possible that 3 years (between the two mintage years of 2008 and 2011) could really account for an "old" look? It's puzzling to me too but I like the thinking outside the box from everyone so far.
