I recently came across an interesting 1946-P Booker T. Washington Commemorative Half Dollar that I thought other collectors might like to look for.

In the approximate center of the obverse is a very small raised spot, probably a hub defect of some sort. Of more interest, however, is the feature in the dead center of the obverse, immediately to the northeast of that spot.

You will notice many concentric circles in that area, radiating outward from a center point, that resemble the ripples in a pond after a pebble has been thrown in. These are tracing marks transferred to this particular die from the hub. The marks on the hub were made by the Janvier (reducing) machine's stylus when it was tracing the design from the galvano, and were never polished off prior to the use of this die.

As 1946 was the first year of production for this commemorative, it's interesting to speculate whether or not this was the first (or one of the first) dies used in the striking of this series. Possibly the aberration was discovered and corrected before many coins were struck, thereby creating a "cleaner" obverse die. This and the Iowa Commemorative were the first commemoratives struck since the Arkansas and Oregon issues in 1939, and it's quite possible that some of the die production expertise was lost during the seven year hiatus.

It's amazing what you see when you really look at your coins!