2017 Atypical Die Clash ADC-25c-2017P-01(EM)

Description

Michael Rusk's discovery of prominent obverse clash marks on the 2017-P Iowa Effigy Mounds America the Beautiful Quarter earned a catalog listing despite an unusual circumstance: normally, atypical die clash documentation requires evidence on both obverse and reverse, but ADC-25c-2017P-01(EM) carries marks only on the obverse. The depth and extent of the clash impressions, combined with the Iowa Effigy Mounds reverse design's configuration making reverse clash marks unlikely due to the design's layout, prompted an exception to standard listing criteria. Atypical die clashes differ from typical clashing in that the dies contact each other at an offset or angle rather than in their normal aligned position, producing clash marks in unexpected locations that do not correspond to opposing design elements. The 2017-P Effigy Mounds Quarter, depicting the prehistoric mounds built by indigenous peoples along the Upper Mississippi River, features a naturalistic landscape reverse where the topographical elements may absorb or distribute clash forces differently than the geometric designs found on other quarters. The America the Beautiful Quarter program, running from 2010 through 2021, produced hundreds of millions of quarters per design at both Philadelphia and Denver, with Philadelphia's high-speed presses generating statistical opportunities for die-to-die contact whenever planchet feed mechanisms misfired.

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