2001-P 25c NC WDDO-003

A die clash is certainly within the realm of possibility. The aircraft on the reverse has all kinds of struts and cables in that particular area. I don't see anything that immediately jumps out at me, but the quarter has quite a few circulation hits and wear. But to be fair, I have never seen a die clash in-hand.

As a question, is it possible for a die clash to hit a recessed area of the die like that? The ear is a high point on the coin bust, so on the die it would be incuse relatively far. Would a die clash leave a pretty deep impression on the lower fields? I will say that the quarter looks like a later die state, and there seems to be evidence of heavy polishing on the upper right devices. The letters are extremely shallow there. So it's also possible that there was a die clash at one point, and that little bit behind the ear is all that's left after polishing repairs.

fwiw, I am completely willing to just stick the coin in an envelope and mail it to you. It cost me exactly 25¢, so you can just keep it after analyzing it.

Yokozuna, thanks for the overlay. That helps a lot to visualize where features might be located. I do think it's rather conspicuous that the tangle of raised lines is right in the same area as the ear.

Not sure if we can see anything interesting from the typical obverse and reverse images. I will go over the quarter thoroughly with the magnifier this evening, using the overlay as a guide.

It's been a few weeks, so I am going to give this thread a bump to see if Tanner might want this quarter. =)

Got the coin from brand:





Certainly a slightly rotated die clash. Lines match perfectly with the obvious clash marks further down the neck.

There are traces of hair curls on the reverse as well, I forgot to photo them before I put away the scope though .

Just photo the same area I did and the corresponding area on the reverse. It's pretty rare to see any clash marks outside of the ear/neck/hair area, so I wouldn't worry about anywhere else.

Dies are slightly convex. With a weak clash, only the very center of the dies touch.




Yes, you got it.

Separately, a convex die question. I know the dies are low cones when they are hubbed. That's to reduce friction and ensure good engagement of the hub details into the die face. It's also what generates pop doubling from the center on single squeeze dies.

People have sometimes mentioned that the final working dies are also convex. But I have not been able to find anything online (yet) that indicates the actual curve of a working die. I assume the curvature must be small, but at those speeds and pressures, a small variation can produce big differences. Just how curved is a convex working die?