SKH-25c-1998P-03 Spiked Head

Description

Third documented spiked head for the 1998 Philadelphia Mint Washington Quarter, SKH-25c-1998P-03 was cataloged by Cuds on Coins on May 8, 2017. This variety extends the spiked head phenomenon from cents — where it is most commonly documented — to the quarter denomination, recording a die clash event on John Flanagan's Washington Quarter obverse that produced a raised spike from Washington's portrait. The die clash mechanism operates identically across denominations: when a planchet fails to feed and the obverse and reverse dies strike each other directly, design elements from one die transfer into the other. On Washington Quarters, the heraldic eagle reverse contains substantial design relief — spread wings, olive branch, arrows, and the shield — that can create pronounced impressions when clashed into the obverse die. The 1998-P quarter represents the final year of the original Washington Quarter reverse design before the State Quarters program launched in 1999, making spiked heads from this date among the last produced with the classic eagle reverse that had served the denomination since 1932. Three spiked heads from a single date and mint indicates that multiple die pairs experienced clash events during the year's production, consistent with the high-volume output of Philadelphia's quarter presses. The absence of additional cross-references beyond the Cuds on Coins catalog entry reflects the relatively recent and specialized nature of spiked head documentation on quarters compared to the more extensively cataloged cent varieties. SKH-25c-1998P-03 contributes to a cross-denominational spiked head census that demonstrates the universality of the die clash mechanism across United States coinage.

Attribution History

• Discovered by Louis A
• Cross reference: none. 05/08/2017.
• Expert attribution by Cuds on Coins

External References