2012P(SAC)-100DEO-002T Trail Die Obverse

Description

Discovered by Jean Lee, this trail die obverse on a 2012 Philadelphia Mint Native American Dollar in Position B captures a faint ghost image transferred from a die that previously struck a different design. Trail dies occur when a working die retains microscopic impressions of a prior coin type and transfers those ghostly traces onto subsequent strikes. The Position B designation indicates the die orientation in the coining press — on dollar coins, Position B places the obverse die in the hammer position (upper die), producing a specific edge lettering alignment relative to the obverse. The 2012 Native American Dollar's reverse, designed by Thomas Cleveland, depicts a horse in motion representing 17th-century trade routes connecting Native American nations with French and Spanish colonists. Trail die varieties rank among the more elusive modern errors because the transferred images are subtle and require examination under magnification and angled lighting. This second cataloged trail die obverse for the 2012 Philadelphia Sacagawea-type dollar documents the phenomenon on one of two die orientations used in production.