DELIBERATELY CIRCULATED: TEN YEARS LATER...

 Once again, I've charged the battery to my 2007 model digital camera to document the current state of gouges, rubbing, and smearing of the designs of various coins I've been carrying in my pocket (in some cases) since 2007 (and in more cases, later than that - the most recent addition, a 2017 New Jersey "America the Beautiful" quarter dollar, started on October 2017)

I don't know if this digital camera will survive to 2025 for the next documenting. It was quite wonky this time like bit rot had begun setting into its circuit boards or something. I'll miss the camera when it goes, especially for this project, as it has the ability to focus much closer in macro mode than my other cameras.

I tried something different with this set of photos and the results look fairly good. I'll still never recapture that 2015 magic but this is a start to something I may use consistently. I put the coin off to the right of the light source and used my hand to shade the coin that it would be lit more by ambient light than directly (which cut out both harsh shadows and overly lit areas where the light reflected into my camera) and photographed it with a longer shutter speed

The largest coins are propped up with a dime but everything from the Susan B. Anthony dollar to the angel token I was able to photograph flat for the first time.

I did, however, forget to adjust the white balance. While this didn't affect the cupronickel coins all that much, it didn't make the cents look really off so I maximally warmed the image to make those coins look more coppery so if they look really off to your non-colorblind eyes, that's why. But they look okay to me so I went with it rather than do a reshoot with a camera increasingly unwilling to cooperate with my commands.

And yes, I'm aware I still have not finished comparing the ATB quarter mintages to those of the Statehood quarter mintages. I still might get around to that.

Might...

Anyway, as always, click on the images to enlarge

2007 Silver American Eagle: about 12-13 years wear

 The rim of this coin is still sharp. I guess it doesn't face circulation pressure in my coin purse set-up. The main parts of the design all show heavy wear now with the top part of the date no longer protected by its recessed area. The E PLURIBUS UNUM on the ribbon in the eagle's mouth is almost entirely gone. The bright spots in all the coin photographs show the remaining protected areas which, for this coin, is still largely the lettering along both sides' edges.

1978-D Eisenhower Dollar: about 11 years wear

1978 Kennedy Half Dollar: about 9-10 years wear

The relief of Kennedy's head at this point in the series (1964-1987) is very high so it's almost impossible to photograph it without harsh shadows but this coin is already more worn than almost every Kennedy half dollar I've ever handled. I only a regular customer back in 2000 who kept a 1964 Kennedy in pocket for many years (for all I know, since 1964) that he'd take out when getting change to pay for his coffee. It had gotten so worn I thought at first it was an old Barber half until I got a better look at it and realized it was indeed a Kennedy half dollar in PO-1 - FAIR-2 condition! If I live long enough, maybe this coin will suffer the same fate :-)

1999-P Susan B. Anthony Dollar: about 13-14 years wear

The obverse is still pock-marked with gouges from all the other coins I carry but the overall design of one of the earliest members of this deliberately circulated club is now about one-third of its way through its expected circulation lifetime of 40 years. I'll be an old man if I'm still carrying this coin until then!

1999-P New Jersey State Quarter: about 13 years wear

Washington's spaghetti hairlines persist but are getting noticeably weaker and the reverse design is well on its way to becoming a silhouette

2017-P New Jersey America the Beautiful Quarter: 5½ years wear

Washington's bust is so flat in this version of his design that his hairlines are already noticeably weaker despite a much shorter time in my coin purse compared to his Statehood counterpart. Either way, much of the reverse design is still sharp but then this coin isn't much more worn than the rest of these coins were when I first photographed them in 2013 for this project

2005-P Jefferson Nickel [first issue]: about 13-14 years wear

2005-P Jefferson Nickel [second issue]: about 13-14 years wear

Both of these Westward Journey nickels are just moving along in their circulation. The lettering for the Ocean in View nickel is getting difficult to read (and not just because I need glasses now!). I'm still waiting for the Jefferson heads to show noticeable circulation. It's very hard to see it with this design.

2001-P Jefferson Nickel: about 13-14 years wear

This coin takes a beating on the reverse area with FIVE CENTS and UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. It's nearly smoothed out for parts of it and overall, as evidenced by the bright spots in the images, running out of protected areas as the design gets worn down.

2009-P Jefferson Nickel: about 11 years wear

1974-S Lincoln Cent: about 13-14 years wear

I still like that the protected areas have this subtle blue color to them. Overall, Lincoln has taken a beating. The Memorial on the reverse is nearly a silhouette and even the mini-Lincoln within it is no longer protected, showing wear on his li'l legs

2010 Lincoln Cent: 13 years wear

 

You can really see how good the restoration of Lincoln's portrait was for the 2010 issue when you compare it to the 2009 issues. His bust is like proper sculpture whereas the bicentennial issues reveal all the cheats the Mint did to his design make it, I guess, easier and cheaper to strike. I know it only lasted for the 2010 issue though. As soon as 2011 you can see changes made to the design ostensibly so that it would strike up better but for one year we got this glorious restoration. The reverse shows what protected areas remain, showing up rather golden for the cents

 

2009-I Lincoln Cent: about 11 years wear

The protected areas on the reverse make it look like a log cabin at sunrise or sunset :-) But the protected areas on the obverse of this series of four coins make the Lincoln design look cheap.

2009-II Lincoln Cent: about 11 years wear

2009-III Lincoln Cent: about 11 years wear

2009-IV Lincoln Cent: about 11 years wear

Whereas the protected areas on the log cabin design made the image look like a sunset, the protected areas around the unfinished Capitol building make it look like it's on fire :-)

angel token: 10 years wear

Trying to get rid of those caption boxes from accidentally deleted pictures is proving more trouble than it's worth so I'm just letting them be. The white lines on some of the photos are from misalignments when I merged the obverse and reverse photos that I didn't see until posting them here. I'm not fixing them now, however distracting they are to me...

See y'all in two years!