There are distinct but often subtle differences between wear and friction, two factors that affect a coin's grade.
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Images courtesy of HeritageCoin.com. Standing Liberty quarter dollars are especially susceptible to friction from stacking because of the high points in their design, according to experts.
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Images courtesy of Stack's. Capped Bust half dollars were often stored by banks and counted multiple times, receiving friction. Despite this friction, many experts consider these pieces Uncirculated. A random Uncirculated example appears here.
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Experts contacted by Coin World are mostly in agreement with what the two terms mean, and even mention specific series that are affected by each.
But, advanced and beginning collectors should be cautioned that it is no easy task to differentiate between wear and friction.
What is wear?
Coins experience wear when they enter circulation. They are carried in peoples' pockets or purses where they bang against keys or other items. Spent coins are slide across counters, rubbed by different people's fingers, and otherwise handled indelicately.
Such usage can leave nicks and hairlines on the coin, and the oils on people's fingers also break down the surface of the coin, said Rick Montgomery, president of Numismatic Guaranty Corp.
"It [wear] affects not just the high points but the whole surface of the coin," Montgomery said.
Wear degrades a coin's luster, which Michael Fahey, senior numismatist at ANACS, once said in Basic Grading, "is simply the way light reflects from the microscopic flow lines of a coin."
Coins also pick up what Fahey calls circulation marks (also called contact marks and bag marks).
Contact marks can range in severity from a light, minor disruption of the coin's surface to a larger, heavy scrape, according to the Coin World Almanac.
Heavier coins create larger contact marks, and larger marks are more distracting than smaller marks.
"The bigger coins tend to collect circulation marks quickly," Fahey said, citing Walking Liberty half dollars. "Circulation marks don't show up on little coins like dimes, cents, they're just not big enough."
What is friction?
Friction is a different factor affecting a coin's condition.
A glossary published by Professional Coin Grading Service says friction is: "Slight wear on a coin's high points or in the fields."
The Coin World Almanac makes a further distinction, noting that: "Friction does disturb the luster of the coin, but it should not disturb the metal underneath."
When collectors think of friction, a lot of them think of what occurs when a coin slides around drawers in coin cabinets, Fahey said.
Decades ago, coins were often stored in cabinets with lined drawers (that's how a person's coin collection came to be known as a "cabinet").
When the drawers were opened and closed, the coins could slide around, creating friction.
"It [the friction] usually affects just one side, just the side facing down," Fahey said.
Friction also comes when coins are stacked in rolls, Montgomery noted.
Fahey said that, in particular, Bust half dollars that were never circulated often bear evidence of friction.
"Some banks stored their capital funds that were required to be on deposit by storing Bust half dollars, and these coins were counted numerous times, so the coins received friction but they never actually circulated."
Montgomery also said that gold coins frequently exhibit friction, because the gold was "shipped back and forth to Europe, and banks were counting it multiple times for their inventory."
Designs matter
Friction often occurs because of a coin's design, both Fahey and Montgomery noted.
"Some coins, like the Walking Liberty Half dollar, have relief points higher than the rim so the rim doesn't protect the design," Fahey said. "When these coins are stacked those points rub each other. This friction is hard to tell from wear."
Randy Campbell, senior grader with Independent Coin Grading, says it comes down to being "a problem with how [a coin] was designed at the Mint."
Standing Liberty quarter dollars are an example of a series where Uncirculated examples bear friction, Montgomery said.
"They become [About Uncirculated] very quickly because the central designs are so prominent," he said. "It naturally takes on the friction right away, especially if you stack them."
The high points on the Standing Liberty quarter dollar are on Liberty's shield, right knee and thigh, and on the eagle's breast and edge of the left wing, according to the book Making The Grade by Beth Deisher.
A coin that has experienced friction often still retains all of its luster, Montgomery said.
Fahey said that a coin can have light friction but still be considered Uncirculated, pointing to some Bust half dollars that are graded Mint State 62 and have nice luster.
Fahey said that when you compare a coin with light friction with an MS-63 coin, they usually look about the same.
Montgomery also mentioned Bust half dollars, and added Saint-Gaudens gold $20 double eagles in the list of two coin series where coins can exhibit friction but still qualify as Uncirculated.
Telling the difference
Detecting the difference between a coin with light wear and one with friction is "kind of a fine point," Fahey said.
When Fahey teaches grading to beginners, he doesn't teach how to tell the difference, just what the differences are. "An awful lot of beginning collectors can't see light wear on a coin," he said.
Beginners' shouldn't be concerned with the difference between wear and friction, Fahey said.
"Just look at the high points, look for changes in color and signs of any flattening," he said.
Capturing the subtleties of friction in an image is a problem, Fahey said. "I've never been able to find a photograph that clearly shows friction," he said.
Inexperience with the subject may convince a new collector that a coin that is actually About Uncirculated is Uncirculated when it's not, Fahey said.
Unless the actual history of a specific example of a coin is known, the Coin World Almanac notes, "distinguishing friction from circulation wear is nearly impossible."
Though Montgomery said learning the difference is "a tall order," he suggests that the best way new collectors can learn the difference is by gaining experience.
"[It comes] from looking at hundreds, if not thousands of coins and, this may be a little bit of a plug, but looking at certified coins," Montgomery said.
One prominent grader doesn't see a difference between wear and friction.
"It's either worn or it's not," Campbell said. "It's a worthless discussion. If it's new, it's new, if it's not, we're going to call it circulated.
Trying to distinguish between the two, Campbell said, is, "an exercise that rarely bears fruit, and usually only bears ill will. I don't see any purpose in it."
