SKH-25c-1993P-01 Spiked Head

Description

First and only documented spiked head for the 1993 Philadelphia Mint Washington Quarter, SKH-25c-1993P-01 was cataloged by Cuds on Coins on May 3, 2021. This die clash variety records the transfer of heraldic eagle reverse detail into Washington's portrait during a planchet feed failure at Philadelphia's coining presses. The 1993-P quarter was produced during the mid-1990s period when the original Flanagan reverse design was still in service — six years before the State Quarters program would revolutionize American quarter coinage. Production volumes for the standard Washington Quarter in this era were significant but not at the exceptional levels that the State Quarters program would later generate, and a single documented spiked head for the date may reflect either lower absolute die clash frequency or less intensive collector examination compared to later periods. The heraldic eagle reverse, with its detailed wing feathers, shield bars, olive branch leaves, and arrow shafts, provides substantial design relief that can leave distinctive impressions when dies clash. The specific character of the spike — its position, length, and orientation relative to Washington's profile — would have been determined by the precise alignment of the dies at the moment of clash, meaning the transferred reverse detail that forms the spike is unique to this particular die clash event. No additional cross-references exist beyond the Cuds on Coins catalog, establishing that entry as the primary documentation. The May 2021 catalog date, nearly three decades after the coins were struck, illustrates the long discovery timeline characteristic of die variety research, where numismatic time operates on a fundamentally different scale than the production events it documents.

Attribution History

• Discovered by Philip Knoll
• Cross reference: none. 05/03/2021.
• Expert attribution by Cuds on Coins

External References