Image © Ken Potter 2005 / Coin courtesy of Gary Burger

Q: Eric L., posed a question about the so-called “Wounded Eagle,”  2000-P Sacagawea dollar. He says:  “I bought about 200 rolls of the new [2000-P] Sacagawea coins from my local WalMart during their promotion [that year] in a search to find a “wounded-eagle” that matched the snake-like pattern of a photo I spotted online somewhere. I turned a few hundred with “spears” back into the bank looking for a wounded eagle … is there any reference photos on the types of “wounds” that can be certified as “wounded eagles.”

A: these are not a “wound” nor are they a “spear” but rather a die gouge that runs through the body of the eagle just below the breast.  There is only one die gouge variety that I know of that is “officially” recognized by the authors of the Cherrypickers’ Guide To Rare Die Varieties, Bill Fivaz and J.T. Stanton.  They refer to it as “Reverse Die Aberrations” and make a special note that “some collectors have nicknamed this the ‘speared eagle’.”  In actuality, “wounded eagle” was and continues to be the far more popular nickname. It is frequently certified by some of the grading companies as a “wounded eagle.”

Many in the organized error-variety hobby are against the use of nicknames such as either cited here and prefer to see them referred to simply as “die gouges” (or perhaps the closely related “die dents” which this may actually be) or at the very least as something like “Wounded Eagle–Die Gouge.”  Whatever your position, there is no question that this one is unusual and kind of neat!  I own one that fellow Michigander, Gary Burger gave me and I enjoy looking at it on the rare occasions that I get a change to look at any of my own coins 🙂

—Ken Potter