CU-1c-1802-02R Cud

Description

Struck more than 150 years before any other coin in this batch, the 1802 Draped Bust Cent bearing Rim Cud CU-1c-1802-02R belongs to a different world of American coinage. Robert Scot's Draped Bust design, depicting Liberty with flowing hair and draped bodice, appeared on large copper cents from 1796 through 1807, and the Philadelphia Mint — the nation's sole coining facility in 1802 — produced them on hand-operated screw presses delivering far fewer strikes per day than later steam-powered equipment. Yet even at that slower pace, dies failed. The "-02R" suffix identifies this as the second documented Rim Cud for the date, meaning the fracture was confined to the outermost edge of the die. Early American dies were crafted individually with more hand engraving than later hub-and-die mass production, making each a semi-unique artifact whose failure meant the loss of irreplaceable work. Large copper cents of this era were struck on broad planchets roughly the diameter of a modern quarter, giving the cud ample rim area. Surviving examples from the early 1800s with identifiable die errors are genuinely rare, placing this among the most significant entries in the Cuds on Coins registry.

Attribution History

• Discovered by Friscomint1793 on eBay
• Expert attribution by Cuds on Coins

External References