CU-1C-1847-2 Cud

Description

Second cataloged cud on the 1847 Braided Hair Coronet Head Cent, CU-1C-1847-2 documents a rim die break on Christian Gobrecht's mature Liberty design that served American commerce from 1839 through 1857. The Philadelphia Mint — the nation's sole coining facility for cents throughout this era — struck 6,183,669 large cents in 1847, each one produced on a hand-operated screw press that generated substantial die stress with every impression. Large cent dies endured particular mechanical punishment because of the denomination's physical size: at 27.5mm in diameter and weighing approximately 10.89 grams of pure copper, each strike required considerable force to fully impress the design into the soft copper planchet. The cud formed when a section of die metal at the rim fractured and separated completely, leaving subsequent strikes with a raised, featureless blob where design elements should appear. Cataloged by Cuds on Coins with no additional cross-references, CU-1C-1847-2 belongs to the broader documentation effort covering die breaks across all Braided Hair cent dates. Collectors of pre-Civil War copper appreciate cuds on large cents because the denomination's generous surface area makes die breaks visually dramatic, and the hand-struck production process generated unique fracture patterns distinct from later steam-press coinage.

Attribution History

• Discovered by Friscomint1793 on eBay
• CU-1C-1847-2; none.
• Expert attribution by Cuds on Coins

External References