The 2007-P Washington $ Elongated Third Ray Shines

Originally I had zero interest in the small dollar coins. That was until the nationwide coin shortage occurred and my search for the "W" Washington quarters had proven unproductive. A friend suggested that I start searching through the small Presidential dollars and he sent me a link to his website, "United States Small Dollar Coins and Related Items".

One variety that caught my eye and intrigued me the most was the speculation and possible existence of an "Elongated Third Ray" of the tiara on the 2007-P George Washington issue. This coin was believed to have been found/reported in 2007, the first year of issue. I searched for information on this coin for months on-line and elsewhere for any documentation of a confirmed or attributed example, but nothing was found.

All the information I acquired over these months was merely speculation of its existence. Was it an unintentional die gouge which extended the ray? Was it a scratch? Was the die intentionally modified, altered or manipulated at the mint? No one seemed to have the answer. There was no evidence that this coin had ever been officially recognized or attributed by the top three grading services or the Cherrypickers' Guide.

So, my search began. I found that banks had boxes of these small dollars that none of their customers wanted. After months and months searching through thousands of these Presidential dollars, I found several of this variety. The design of the ray seemed too well formed to be a die gouge. After having been in circulation for 15 years, I realized this variety was still unreported and still could be cherrypicked.

I contacted a number of key players in the variety/error community and showed them the coin for their personal and professional opinions.My non-professional numismatic eyes suggested that the ray was too clear to be anything other than an intentional die alteration or modification at the mint and my aim has been to have it assigned a FS (Fivaz-Stanton) number. With the help, opinions and feedback from many experts in the field, too many to mention, this interesting observation would not have been possible. The tenacity, commitment and due diligence in this effort eventually found its way to recognition and hopefully a listing in the upcoming Cherrypickers' Guide.