The Great Wall of George: A die break study on a 1964-D Washington Quarter
jtlee321
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Here is a 1964-D Washington Quarter I picked up recently. I decided to do some high magnification imaging of the die crack/break showing at least two displaced field breaks on this gorgeous quarter. I utilized an imaging technique known as focus stacking to render a composite image that no camera would be able to produce using a single exposure. The average number of exposures in the following images are around 100 for each image. Each exposure had the focus point manually shifted through the depth of the frame.
I had a lot of fun on this and I used a piece of software for the first time to render the images. The software is called Helicon Focus and was a heck of a lot better in my opinion than Photoshop, which is what I had been using up to this point.
Enough of the camera geek talk, on to the eye candy. The height of this die crack/break is rather impressive. It's the reason I nicknamed it "The Great Wall of George". It extends from the rim just left of the date where it travels NW and then splits just W of the top of the 1 in the date. The main break continues N and then cuts E towards the base of George's bust and travels along the top of the ridge. The secondary crack travels SE from the main break across the top of the 1 and then turns NW and joins the main break again. The area within the encirclement of the main and secondary breaks is displaced and can be seen in the images below. The main break continues along the base of George's bust and into the ribbon. It then turns SE and slowly fades and just makes it to the rim again.
The area to the left of the main break where it starts at the left of the date has a very high degree of displacement and appears almost shelf like. The main break along George's bust is very wide and full of chips. I don't think this die lasted in production much longer beyond this die state. If a later die state exists for this die, I would really love to see it.
I find these types of coins to be very fascinating and will buy them whenever I come across them. I hope those of you who like die cracks and breaks enjoy this one. I would add, that had this been a Morgan Dollar with this kind of break, I'm sure the VAM'ers would be all over it like Vampires at a blood bank. 
Here's an angle looking directly down at the coin and shows the crack/break in it's entirety. This is from a single image.
Here's an image that show's the height of the break in relation to the height of the devices.
This one show's the displacement of the fields near the rim.
This one show's the displacement in the encircled area within the main and secondary breaks.
And finally this is just another angle that show's the height of the break and the size of the chips just east (in relation to the orientation of the image) of the 1 as well as a large die chip in the field to the east (again in relation to the orientation of the image) of the main break.
Comments
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well done.
neat pre-retained cud state. i sure dont see many of these.
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Great pics! Wow.
Very cool. Numismatic plate tectonics!
Love the pictures, good job
Incredible photographs.... Well done indeed. One can almost imagine the die shattering just afterwards... Cheers, RickO
Those are some awesome photos, and this is a great thread!
Great photos. It would be interesting to see photos like that of a double die or other variety coin. Maybe even the controversial 14/13 nickel.
Although the die crack across the bust itself
is very common, I'd have to say the very late
die state you have is not common, by any means.
I'm impressed.
Thanks guys. This is a very fascinating coin. When I came across it, I thought the area of the die break was hair or some other gunk. That is until I actually looked at it. As soon as I saw it under my loupe, I knew I had to have it.
Die! Crackle! and Pop! Broken Die. Cracked. Pop of one!
Thank you. I love late die state coins, whether they are die cracks, breaks, strong clashes or just heavy die fatigue. They have a uniqueness to them, that separates them from the rest.
Very neat coin and great pics!
This will be a fun technique to try on some RPM's and doubled dies. I have a few of each, I'll try it on.
I like it! Cool name, too.
My YouTube Channel
wicked cool and wicked cool pics as well, i like
The name just popped in my head after I rendered this image. The way the crack followed the contours of the coin made me think of an aerial photo of the Great Wall of China.
"focus stacking" you say? Hmm, I have never heard of it before. I am fascinated. Your pictures are among the most detailed I have ever seen. Do you have info on this process you are willing to discuss? Equipment needed, etc. I will google it too.
I would be happy to discuss with you about the process. It's a matter of taking a number of images with the focus point set to a slightly different point in each image and then combining the images together to form one composite image.
Here is just 1 of the 102 images it took to create the final image that you see below.
@PCGSPhoto Phil Arnold wrote an article on focus stacking recently. There was a thread with a link to it, that you can find.
Yeah, the 1964 quarters would surely be the 1921 Morgans of the series for sure.
If not VAMs, is there a better system for GWQs?
I doubt it. CONECA is probably the best source for varieties such as RPM's, OMM's, DDO's, and DDR's. They don't catalogue die crack's, breaks or clashes like the VAM community. As far as I know nobody catalogues those.
It would be great to start a catalog of die cracks for coins that aren't currently being tracked. I've recently noticed that there are a variety of shield cent die cracks that could be fun to collect.
Love the coin, die crack and photos @jtlee321!
Thank you. I appreciate the compliment. I really love this quarter.
I have to agree with you. There are a ton of coins out there with die cracks. But to be of real interest to me, they have to be spectacular. A displaced field really ramps up the interest factor for me. It show's how the die was just about to fail, and fail badly.