CU-1C-1848-01R Rim Cud

Description

First documented reverse rim cud on the 1848 Braided Hair Coronet Head Cent, CU-1C-1848-01R records a die rim fracture on a date that saw 6,415,799 large cents struck at the Philadelphia Mint — the nation's sole coining facility, operating under Director Robert M. Patterson's oversight during the final decade of large cent production. Christian Gobrecht's Braided Hair design, by 1848 in its tenth year of continuous production, had established itself as one of the most enduring early American coin designs, with the reverse's ornamental wreath enclosing the ONE CENT denomination framed by a simple rope border. The rim cud formed when a section of the reverse die fractured at the periphery and separated completely, leaving a raised, featureless mass of metal at the coin's edge that obliterates the underlying design in the affected area. Cataloged by Cuds on Coins with the primary cross-reference matching its own designation (CU-1C-1848-01R), no other attribution systems have independently cataloged this variety. The "01R" suffix indicates this is the first — and potentially only — reverse rim cud documented for the 1848 date, contrasting with the five cuds documented for 1847 and suggesting either less die deterioration in 1848 or less thorough searching of that date's surviving population. Large cent rim cuds from the late 1840s survive in quantities sufficient for dedicated specialists to locate examples, though most show significant circulation wear from decades of commercial use in everyday transactions.

Attribution History

• Discovered by Friscomint1793 on eBay
• CU-1C-1848-01R
• Expert attribution by Cuds on Coins

External References