RCD-100c-1846-01 Retained Cud

Description

Standing alone as the only retained cud documented for the 1846 Seated Liberty dollar, RCD-100c-1846-01 records a die rim fracture on one of the early dates in Christian Gobrecht's Seated Liberty dollar design, which was produced from 1840 through 1873. The designation follows Cuds on Coins nomenclature: RCD for retained cud, 100c for the dollar denomination, 1846 for the date, and 01 marking the sole documented retained cud for this issue. Philadelphia struck approximately 110,600 Seated Liberty dollars in 1846, a minuscule mintage by modern standards that reflects the limited commercial demand for silver dollars during the pre-Civil War era when most domestic transactions used smaller denominations. Gobrecht's design features seated Liberty holding a pole topped with a liberty cap in her left hand and a shield inscribed LIBERTY in her right, with thirteen stars around the obverse border, while the reverse displays a heraldic eagle with shield, olive branch, and arrows. The extremely low mintage means relatively few dies were required for the entire year's production, making any die failure variety from 1846 notably scarce in absolute terms. A retained cud on a Seated Liberty dollar — where the die rim fractured but the broken section remained attached, producing a raised or shelf-like disturbance on the coin — documents die behavior on a large-format (38.1mm diameter) silver coin where the striking dynamics differ substantially from the smaller cent and nickel denominations that dominate die variety catalogs. The absence of cross-references reflects the comparatively limited die variety research community for Seated Liberty dollars compared to the heavily studied Lincoln cent and Morgan dollar series. Collectors fortunate enough to encounter this variety should examine the rim area for the characteristic raised disturbance of a retained cud, keeping in mind that the coin's age and typical circulation wear may partially obscure the diagnostic.

Attribution History

• Discovered by Heritage Auction
• Expert attribution by Cuds on Coins

External References