2015 Doubled Die Reverse WDDR-020

Description

Cataloged by the Wexler Team as 2015-P 25c DE WDDR-020 with no other known cross-references, this doubled die reverse was discovered on the 2015 Philadelphia Bombay Hook (Delaware) America the Beautiful Quarter. A doubled blade of grass is visible above the right end of the upper grass strip between the great egret and the great blue heron depicted in the design. Obverse die markers include a small die gouge to the left of the lower I of IN, along with small die chips on the designer's initials. Reverse die markers show die chips on the back of the beak, below the great blue heron's eye, and on the back of its head. The Bombay Hook quarter, designed by Phebe Hemphill, depicts a great blue heron and great egret amid the tidal marsh grasses of the Bombay Hook National Wildlife Refuge in Delaware, one of the most important migratory bird habitats on the Atlantic Flyway. The doubled blade of grass, while a subtle diagnostic, appears in a visually accessible location between the two prominent bird figures where collectors can use the surrounding grass blades as reference lines for detecting displacement. The multiple reverse die chips on the heron's anatomy — beak, below the eye, and back of the head — provide secondary confirmation markers distributed across the design. The 2015-P quarter was struck at the Philadelphia Mint in copper-nickel clad composition (5.670 grams, 24.3 mm). The America the Beautiful Quarters program (2010-2021) devoted each design to a national park or site, and Bombay Hook's detailed wildlife imagery provided numerous fine design elements sensitive to hub displacement.

Attribution History

• Discovered by Stephen Young Cross References: None known
• None known; Wexler Variety ID: 2015-P 25¢ DE WDDR-020
• Expert attribution by Wexler Team

External References