1868 Two Cent Piece - RCD-2c-1868-01R & 02R Retained Cud

Description

When a working die develops a rim crack and the fractured metal breaks free but is held in place rather than falling out, the result is a retained cud — a raised plateau on the struck coin's rim that traces the outline of the die failure. RCD-2c-1868-01R & 02R is the Cuds on Coins entry for retained cuds on the reverse of an 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 2 CENTS 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 entry number, and R indicating the reverse. 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 loose section might have fallen out entirely, producing a full cud error with a smooth, design-free 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.

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