2015 (P) Saratoga National Historical Park Quarter - Doubled Die Reverse WDDR-004

Description

Under the Wexler Team attribution 2015-P 25-cent NY WDDR-004, this America the Beautiful Quarter is a doubled die reverse for the 2015 Philadelphia Mint Saratoga National Historical Park issue. The proliferation of DDR varieties on this single design reflects the challenges inherent in the ATB program's demanding production schedule, where the Philadelphia and Denver Mints each needed to prepare multiple sets of working dies for every new reverse design introduced five times per year from 2010 through 2020 (one in 2021). Each working die was created through a multi-step hubbing process susceptible to alignment errors, and the Saratoga reverse with its close-up of hands and sword, and its peripheral inscriptions provided ample design complexity for even minor hub misalignments to produce detectable doubling on one or more elements. No additional cross-references beyond the Wexler listing have been established, indicating this variety has not been independently cataloged by CONECA or other major attribution services. The absence of confirmed cross-references is common among ATB doubled dies, where the sheer volume of varieties discovered across the program's 56 individual designs has outpaced the capacity of secondary attribution organizations to independently verify and catalog every entry. Struck in copper-nickel clad at 5.67 grams on a planchet produced from bonded strip stock with pure copper core and 75% copper / 25% nickel outer layers, the 2015-P Saratoga Quarter honors the site where British General John Burgoyne surrendered to American General Horatio Gates in October 1777 — a turning point of the American Revolution that the reverse design commemorates through its close-up of Burgoyne's sword changing hands.

Cross References

• None known; Wexler Variety ID: 2015-P 25¢ NY WDDR-004

External References