2009P(AS)-25DEO-001T Trail Die Obverse

Description

Discovered by Bob Piazza and cataloged by Trail Dies, the 2009P(AS)-25DEO-001T Trail Die Obverse on the 2009-P American Samoa Quarter represents a variety created during the die manufacturing process when residual design traces from one die or hub component transferred onto another, leaving faint secondary impressions on the finished coins. Die markers at Stage A show the obverse in early die state with a small die gouge in the field below the LI of LIBERTY, while the reverse is also in early die state with a slight misaligned die noted on the examined specimen. The American Samoa Quarter was part of the 2009 DC and US Territories Quarters program, which featured six unique reverse designs honoring the District of Columbia and five U.S. territories — the final extension of the State Quarters concept before the transition to the America the Beautiful series in 2010. Struck on copper-nickel clad planchets weighing 5.67 grams with a diameter of 24.26 mm at the Philadelphia Mint, the American Samoa reverse depicts the fue (a traditional Samoan coconut-oil flask), an ava bowl, and a coconut tree against a backdrop of ocean and shore. Trail die varieties represent a distinct category of die manufacturing anomaly that differs from doubled dies: while doubled dies result from misaligned impressions during the hubbing of a single die, trail dies arise from cross-contamination between different dies or tooling components in the production chain. The slight misaligned die noted on the examined specimen is an independent striking error that may or may not be present on all examples struck from this trail die, as misalignment varies from strike to strike while the trail die feature is constant across all coins produced from the same working die.

Die Markers

• Stage "A", obverse is EDS – A small die gouge in the field below the LI of LIBERTY.
• Reverse is EDS – Slight misaligned die on the specimen examined.

Attribution History

• Discovered by Bob Piazza
• Expert attribution by Trail Dies

External References