Washington Doubled Die or Just a Coincidence?

This Abraded Patch on Washington Dollar Intrigues Expert

Well-known die variety expert Billy Crawford sent me these enigmatic photos.  There is a patch of surface area in the field of this Washington Presidential Dollar reverse that has been abraded by a Mint technician.  Mint workers abrade the coin dies when they need to clean up problems such as clash marks or other damage to the face of the dies.  After the abrading, which obscures the fault, the die should be polished to bring the surface back to a smooth  texture.  The first photo shows a wide angle view of the area we are examining here.

The arrow points to the area where the die was abraded.  The close-up photo below shows this spot in greater detail:

The area marked by the arrows is suspected of being a partially-removed doubled impression of Liberty's upper shoulder area.  The Mint technician carefully used his file card (a brush with short, stiff wires) to obscure something from the surface of the die this coin was struck from.  The fact that he neglected to polish the area smooth following this abrading adds a little more mystery, but before presenting the expert's analysis, let's look at the final image.  In the image below, Billy has created a photographic overlay, showing the entire image as if it were double struck, with the second impression being rotated slightly to the counter-clockwise direction and then placed on top of the abraded patch.

Amazingly, when the image is rotated slightly, the curvature of the shoulder fits very nearly onto the abraded spot!  Billy  wonders whether this might have been a doubled die that was caught by the Mint.  Here are Billy's exact words regarding this fascinating coin:

What is really interesting is that we can see that the outline edge of the abraded area in the field matches the outline edge of the shoulder design. The rest of the reverse fields are smooth and I see no evidence of a die clash.  The obverse is normal.

Could this die initially have exhibited doubled shoulder remnants that the Mint worker spotted on the culprit die? Did he polish those remnants out?  Another interesting thought to ponder is that we don't know exactly when the die was abraded.  Could it have been on the press striking coins and during inspection the die pulled and subsequently polished?  If that did happen, there certainly could be other specimens prior to stoning the die that might show the doubling in that area of the shoulder.

Billy tells us that this specimen was discovered by William P. Varney in Florida.  William and Billy are both eager to hear of any other coins that are struck from the same die.  Billy also points out that this is another area people should be checking when they are looking for Presidential doubled die coins.  Remember, don't limit your search to just the areas other people have found!  Along with your open eyes, keep an open mind!

What do you think is the cause of the abrading on this coin?  Did William find another Washington Dollar doubled die, or is this just a remnant clash mark?  Or perhaps it's neither; just some stray marks that people shouldn't make such a big deal about?  Share your thoughts on the comment page for the Presidential Dollar Die Abrasion Mystery.

Photos on this page are courtesy of Billy Crawford.