1857 Flying Eagle Cent Reverse Rim Cud (12 to 1 o'clock)

Description

Spanning from the 12 o'clock to 1 o'clock position on the reverse, this rim cud on an 1857 Flying Eagle Cent preserves a dramatic die failure from one of early American coinage's most significant transitional series. A cud forms when a section of the die rim fractures and the broken piece separates entirely, leaving a cavity in the die face that fills with metal during striking to produce a raised, featureless blob where design elements would normally appear. The location from 12 to 1 o'clock on the reverse places this cud near the top of the wreath design that encircles the denomination on Longacre's small cent. The Flying Eagle Cent, struck only from 1856 through 1858, was the United States Mint's first small-format cent — replacing the unwieldy large copper cents that had been produced since 1793. The copper-nickel composition (88% copper, 12% nickel) presented significant striking challenges, as the hard alloy accelerated die wear and increased the mechanical stresses that lead to rim fractures. Die breaks of any type on Flying Eagle Cents are noteworthy given the series' extremely brief production span, and a cud of this size represents a major die failure that would have been observable even in the less quality-conscious standards of the 1850s Philadelphia Mint.