2007 Typical Die Clash TDC-25C-2007-01WA

Description

Identified by MadDieClashes under the designation TDC-25C-2007-01WA, this typical die clash was found on the 2007 (P) Washington State Quarter — notably sharing both its year and the name of the nation's first president who appears on the quarter's obverse. The Washington State Quarter reverse, designed by Charles Vickers, depicts a king salmon leaping before Mount Rainier with the state outline and motto "The Evergreen State," providing a composition rich with organic and topographic detail where clash marks from the obverse could manifest among the fish, mountain, or landscape elements. Die clashing — the direct contact between opposing dies without an intervening planchet — transfers incuse impressions of each die's design into the opposite die surface, and these transferred marks then appear as raised foreign elements on subsequently struck coins. The "typical" classification confirms the dies clashed in standard alignment, producing transferred design marks in predictable mirror-image positions relative to the opposing die's design. Philadelphia produced the Washington quarter as the first design in the 2007 five-state rotation, alongside Montana, Idaho, Wyoming, and Utah. John Flanagan's Washington obverse portrait could transfer traces of the president's hair detail, ponytail ribbon, or bust truncation into the field areas of the salmon-and-mountain reverse, while elements of the salmon or mountain contours could ghost onto the obverse around Washington's neck and jaw. Collectors should examine both surfaces under oblique illumination at 10-15x magnification, rotating the coin slowly to catch the shallow relief of transferred design elements that are most visible against the smooth field areas between major design components. The detailed salmon figure and textured mountain on the Washington state reverse create a visually complex surface where identifying clash marks requires careful comparison against confirmed clash-free examples.

Attribution History

• Discovered by MadDieClashes
• Expert attribution by MadDieClashes

External References