SKH-5c-2005P-01 Spiked Head

Description

Philadelphia's contribution to the 2005 Westward Journey Nickel program included the Ocean in View reverse, and SKH-5c-2005P-01 documents the first spiked head variety on the Philadelphia-minted version of this design. The parallel documentation of spiked heads at both Philadelphia and Denver demonstrates that die cracks producing these varieties occur independently at each facility, with each mint's dies developing unique failure patterns. The Ocean in View reverse, designed by Joe Fitzgerald, captures Lewis and Clark's first glimpse of the Pacific in November 1805, rendered with detailed wave and shoreline elements distinguishing it from the Monticello reverse used before and after the Westward Journey series. The obverse portrait of Thomas Jefferson used during 2005 differed from Felix Schlag's original 1938 design, and the specific contours of this modified portrait created distinct stress points in the die face. When a crack develops at one of these points and radiates outward from the portrait's head area, the resulting raised feature earns the spiked head classification. No additional cross-references are published for this variety.

Attribution History

• Discovered by Cooper Darwell
• Cross reference: none. 03/22/2016.
• Expert attribution by Cuds on Coins

External References