While Christmas shopping last week I received change from many different stores. At some point I stopped at a vending machine to get a soft drink. I tried this quarter in the machine at least three times. The machine kept rejecting it. I finally gave up and dug out another quarter. I took a puzzled glance at the stubborn coin and initially thought I had been given some foreign currency by mistake. However, when I got home and took a closer look I realized I had one jacked up quarter. Like I said before, I am not a collector. All information I have has been obtained online. I am more confused now than what I was to begin with. From what I understand, many of these types of coins are compliments of post mint "squeeze" jobs. Tell me what you think. This is what I have so far:
~ 2003-D Alabama Quarter
~ One side has a rotated incuse Washington with reverse lettering under the normal appearing relief Hellen Keller design.
~ The other side is the Illinois Abe Lincoln design. it is incuse, rotated and has reverse lettering, under a normal relief Washington.
~ Both sides show 2003 and have the D mint mark.
One of my questions, maybe someone can explain, is if this was a post mint squeeze job, wouldnt the reverse impression compress the cooresponding relief raised areas of the original coin. On this coin, all of the correct lettering and design appear to lay raised and uncomprimised on top of the incuse impressions. The coin is shiny, in good condition with no signs of external damage. The Illinois Quarter was the first state released in Jan 2003, followed by Alabama in March. In contrast, I have read many articles and watched many videos on the minting process. If this is not a squeeze job, I can't come up with any legitimate theory on how this combination could have occurred. I hope I am making sense.. Thoughts? I will be glad to take more pictures or answers any questions to the best of my ability.
Posted 12/27/2015 4:44 pm
