SKH-25c-1998P-06 Spiked Head

Description

Sixth cataloged spiked head variety for the 1998 Philadelphia Mint Washington Quarter, SKH-25c-1998P-06 features a raised spike or horn-like projection extending from Washington's head, produced by a die crack that created a channel for metal to flow upward under striking pressure. Spiked heads on Washington Quarters are a popular collecting niche because the large size of the quarter makes the spike more visible than on smaller denominations, and the portrait of George Washington — in continuous production from 1932 through 1998 on the clad series — provides a consistent obverse design against which these die failures can be compared. Cuds on Coins catalogs this variety with a cross-reference dated August 8, 2018, and notes that the reverse displays die cracks indicated as "white arrows" in reference imagery, providing additional diagnostics for confirming the die pairing. The 1998-P Washington Quarter was the final year of the original John Flanagan design on the reverse before the 50 State Quarters program launched in 1999 with its rotating reverse designs, making 1998-P spiked head varieties the last of their kind on the classic eagle reverse. Die cracks that produce spiked heads typically originate at or near the rim and propagate through the field into the portrait area, and the resulting spike is often thin and fragile, meaning it may not survive heavy circulation — well-preserved examples tend to be more desirable. The 1998-P clad quarter was struck on standard copper-nickel planchets at Philadelphia, and the combination of a late-production die crack and the reverse crack makes this a dual-diagnostic variety.

Attribution History

• Discovered by Richard Dryden
• Cross reference: none. 08/08/2018.
• Expert attribution by Cuds on Coins

External References