1998 P doubling - Which? 1 1

[Ray Tatum]

I think that it is machine doubling, (random  pic from auction), however  I must ask you. Thank you for the help.

[Quintus Arrius]

[I ask rhetorically, with all the advances being made in cutting edge metallurgy and a cumulative base of knowledge and experience in die-making and Mint machine maintenance, is this the very best the U.S. Government can do in producing an aesthetically pleasing coin for circulation?]

[Fenntucky Mike]

On 11/12/2022 at 7:43 AM, Ray Tatum said:

I think that it is machine doubling, (random  pic from auction), however  I must ask you. Thank you for the help.

I agree MD and a whole lot of wear and tear. 

[Ray Tatum]

On 11/12/2022 at 8:03 AM, Quintus Arrius said:

[I ask rhetorically, with all the advances being made in cutting edge metallurgy and a cumulative base of knowledge and experience in die-making and Mint machine maintenance, is this the very best the U.S. Government can do in producing an aesthetically pleasing coin for circulation?]

—I don’t know—I answer (a)musingly; I reckon that you lose a chunk of aesthetic sensitivity each time you help a n00b, I get it. With all the gorgeous pieces out there, I post this gimcrack disk. Twenty years of it. Thanks for the stiff upper lip and the asides. I am a bottom feeder; without pedigree.
 

Fenntucky Mike, thank you. I hope that some soul does not disagree.

[J P M]

On 11/12/2022 at 8:30 AM, Ray Tatum said:

—I don’t know—I answer (a)musingly; I reckon that you lose a chunk of aesthetic sensitivity each time you help a n00b, I get it. With all the gorgeous pieces out there, I post this gimcrack disk. Twenty years of it. Thanks for the stiff upper lip and the asides. I am a bottom feeder; without pedigree.
 

Fenntucky Mike, thank you. I hope that some soul does not disagree.

It is MD with Die Erosion and a lot of handling in my opinion. 

[cladking]

On 11/12/2022 at 7:03 AM, Quintus Arrius said:

[I ask rhetorically, with all the advances being made in cutting edge metallurgy and a cumulative base of knowledge and experience in die-making and Mint machine maintenance, is this the very best the U.S. Government can do in producing an aesthetically pleasing coin for circulation?]

The mint started making better coins in 1999 when people finally started collecting circulating coins (states quarters).  

For the last 12 or 14 years someone has been scratching up the coins pretty bad and most are starting to look like this.  Maybe it's a new type of coin handling equipment or something.  

[Greenstang]

To me the coin looks like it is DDD. I think the fact the mint is using dies long after the “expiry date” has a lot to do with the poor quality of some of the coins. 

[Ray Tatum]

I read eBay offers for practice. 

I see die breaks across five years of issues that are similar, attempting to reason that out.

So:

A hub weakens a die in such a way that the die breaks in time and leaves a raised line on the coin.

Worker replaces the die with a die made from the same hub.

That replacement die carries the same structural weakness?

Replacement die breaks in a similar way and makes a similar raised line.

Can the strike of a hub on a die cause that die and the successive dies that it makes to have the same propensity for failure?

[Hoghead515]

Loooks like strike doubling.