RCD-2c-1868-01R Retained Cud

Description

When a working die develops a rim crack but the fractured metal remains attached rather than breaking free, the result is a retained cud — a raised, irregular bulge on the struck coin's rim that traces the outline of the incipient die failure. RCD-2c-1868-01R documents the first cataloged retained cud on the reverse of the 1868 Two Cent piece, a denomination designed by James B. Longacre that featured the motto IN GOD WE TRUST on the obverse shield and a wheat wreath encircling the numeral 2 on the reverse. The catalog code follows the Cuds on Coins naming convention: RCD for retained cud, 2c for the two-cent denomination, 1868 for the date, 01 for the first cataloged example, and R indicating the reverse. Philadelphia struck approximately 2.80 million Two Cent pieces in 1868, a sharp decline from the denomination's peak mintage of 19.85 million in 1864 that reflected waning public demand for the coin. The two-cent piece's relatively thick planchet and high-relief design elements concentrated striking pressure along the rim, accelerating die fatigue in the peripheral areas most susceptible to cracking. Retained cuds provide numismatists with a snapshot of die deterioration frozen in mid-progression — had the die continued in service, the retained section would eventually have separated entirely, producing a full cud error with a smooth, featureless area replacing the normal rim detail. The 1868 date falls in the middle of the denomination's brief ten-year production run (1864-1873), a period when mintages declined annually as the copper-nickel five-cent piece increasingly supplanted the two-cent piece in daily commerce. Collectors examining this variety should look for a raised, slightly displaced area along the reverse rim where the die crack bulges outward.

Attribution History

• Discovered by Fred Weinberg
• Expert attribution by Cuds on Coins

External References