1858 Flying Eagle Cent - Small Letters - Flying Eagle Cent (Small Letters) Reverse Rim Cud (6 to 9 o'clock)

Description

Covering the lower-left quadrant of the reverse from 6 o'clock to 9 o'clock, this rim cud on an 1858 Flying Eagle Cent in the Small Letters variety documents a major die failure on one of America's earliest small cent designs. The Flying Eagle Cent, designed by James B. Longacre and produced for regular circulation only in 1857 and 1858, was the first small-format cent issued by the United States Mint, replacing the large copper cents that had been struck since 1793. A rim cud extending across a full quarter of the reverse rim represents the loss of a long arc of the die's rim gutter. On the coin it appears as a raised interruption in the design rim that tracks the rim's course. This cud's position from 6 to 9 o'clock places it on the lower-left portion of the reverse, complementing the separately documented 2-to-5 o'clock cud along the lower-right area of 1858 Small Letters reverses. Flying Eagle Cents were struck on copper-nickel planchets, and the hardness of this alloy required substantial striking pressure that accelerated die wear and rim stress. The Small Letters variety is one of two obverse lettering styles for the 1858 date, told apart from the Large Letters by the letters AM of AMERICA, which do not touch.