CU-1C-1794-02 Cud

Description

Only the second year of regular United States Mint production, 1794 places this Liberty Cap Cent cud among the earliest American coinage die failures ever documented. The Philadelphia Mint, then the nation's sole coining facility, was still developing its manufacturing processes when this obverse die fractured at the rim, allowing a piece to break away and leave a raised featureless area on struck cents. The 1794 Liberty Cap Cent belongs to the Head of 1794 subvariety, distinguished by stylistic differences in Liberty's portrait from the heads used in 1793 and 1795. Dies in this era were individually hand-engraved, making each one irreplaceable and giving every die failure direct consequences for production continuity. The copper planchets used for early large cents were often imperfectly prepared, and striking irregularities added stress to dies that were already working under primitive conditions by later standards. As the second cataloged cud for the 1794 date, CU-1C-1794-02 records a die failure event from the infancy of American coinage. Cataloged by Cuds on Coins for the Liberty Cap Cents 1793-1796 series.

Attribution History

• Discovered by Friscomint1793 on eBay
• CU-1C-1794-02; none
• Expert attribution by Cuds on Coins

External References