The Scarce Haunted Mansion
"Rotated" Reverse Pressed Quarter Set
DL0341 Obverse
DL0342 Obverse
DL0343 Obverse
DL0341
Standard Reverse
DL0342
Standard Reverse
DL0343
Standard Reverse
DL0341(rotated)
Scarce Rotated Reverse
DL0342(rotated)
Scarce Rotated Reverse
DL0343(rotated)
Scarce Rotated Reverse
Disneyland Haunted Mansion Pressed Quarters
Perfect for Ghost Hunters!
There are a few coins that have had the ability to challenge the thread of sanity that I keep telling myself I still have. (Am I talking to myself already? Yes, you are Boomer!) Well, this Haunted Mansion pressed quarter set has surely tested the strength of that thread! It was hard enough for this author to tell the Disneyland Haunted Mansion Ghosts, Phineas Queeg, Ezra Dobbins, and Gus Gracey apart. Then, I find they have switched places with one another! I guess this is pay back for the torment I inflicted on my poor grade school teachers when I secretly switched desks with Mike Retter back in the 1960s? Let this be a lesson kids, sooner or later it all comes back to haunt you!
Well, short story, as you can see in our Disneyland Haunted Mansion elongated quarters guide, the original Haunted Mansion set, the DL0268, DL0269 and DL0270, benefited from a reverse update. The new stampbacks were the same basic images just an improved quality of engraving. The new obverse / reverse combination made the DL0341, DL0342 and DL0343 elongated quarter set. The same "fronts" were still matched with the same ghost on the "backs", just a nicer looking ghost, if that's possible.
If you aren't confused yet... a new pairing of "fronts" and "backs" was found. It looks like sometime early in the life of the second set of elongated quarters, the DL0341, DL0342 and DL0343, the more detailed, deeper cut ghost reverse images, were either originally or temporarily swapped probably when the back die roller of the machine was unintentionally rotated while being serviced. That is, the stampbacks temporarily moved from one coin to another in the set making the DL0341rotated, DL0342rotated and DL0343rotated coins. Of interest, when these dies were updated in April of 2010, making the DL0465, DL0466, and DL0467, the obverse / reverse pairing was changed again although similar coins kept their machine button positions. (Rotation of stampbacks later introduced the "Hitchhiking Ghosts" series.)
If you pressed a set at the right time, whenever that was, you may have the scarcer front / back combinations! If not, they'd be a great find at a Disneyana show or online auction. So, do take a look at the coins above. We've set them up so you can pass your mouse cursor over them and see the "standard" backs on the top row and the "alternate" stampbacks on the bottom row. You may also want to check out the Nightmare Before Christmas, NBC, elongated quarter sets page that includes the Haunted Mansion Holiday quarters for even a bit more detail.