CU-1C-1794-01R Cud

Description

Struck at the Philadelphia Mint during just the second year of United States coinage production, this 1794 Liberty Cap Cent with Head of 1794 carries the first cataloged reverse cud for the date. A cud forms when a section of the die rim fractures and the broken piece separates entirely, leaving a cavity that fills with metal during striking to produce a raised featureless mass at the rim of the finished coin. On a coin from 1794, when the fledgling Mint was still refining its equipment and techniques, die failures were not uncommon — early copper planchets were struck on hand-operated screw presses that subjected dies to inconsistent forces. The Liberty Cap design, featuring a portrait of Liberty with a Phrygian cap on a pole behind her head, was the Mint's second large cent type. Cataloged by Cuds on Coins, CU-1C-1794-01R documents die rim failure on coinage from an era when the entire annual cent production could number in the tens of thousands rather than the billions of modern issues. Die varieties on 1790s copper are tracked through the Sheldon and Noyes numbering systems, and cuds on these early dates are genuinely scarce survivors.

Attribution History

• Discovered by Friscomint1793 on eBay
• CU-1C-1794-01R; none.
• Expert attribution by Cuds on Coins

External References