2004-D 25C Wisconsin Extra Leaf-Low State Quarter
PCGS Mint State 65
Finally solved! How they were made!
These die errors, now known as an Added Design Element varieties (ADE-001, ADE-002) have been long-discussed as to how they were created. It is now known, and can be conclusively proven, that these added elements were put on the dies by a Denver Mint employee who had access to the die manufacturing room. Numerous theories have been put forward: The first theory, put out by the Mint itself, soon after these were discovered, was that this was caused by a clashed die (A “come together” in Mint terms). This is obviously a misdirection by the Mint as there is no clear design element from an opposing die that could make these marks. A second theory is that dropped screw caused the circular marks. This is disproven by the fact that these added elements show clear signs of being added while the die was soft.
The proof is in in a close up images of the added design elements. Lets look first at the Low Leaf. It shows two raised elements above the cheese and to the left of the corn. Below the bottom element is a sloping depression in the field. This is the most important thing to make note of. A depression on the coin is a raised field on the die. This rise in the field can ONLY be caused when a die is in its softened state. When the field of the die was impacted by the circular object, likely a small nut driver, the soft metal was pushed up around it. This does not happen to hardened steel dies. As both alternate theories mentioned above involve a hardened die, they cannot be considered.
The High Leaf variety shows the same circular design element but in a different position. As there is only one impact made and it is lighter than the Low Leaf, it did not push up the soft metal on the die as much. An electron microscope measurement shows that there is actually some deformation in the field to the right of the design element. Again, the field could not deform like this after the die was hardened and put in the press.
