1889 Indian Head Cent Multiple Rim Cuds (Obverse 8:30 to 11:00)

Description

This 1889 Indian Head Cent exhibits multiple rim cuds spanning the obverse between the 8:30 and 11:00 clock positions — a substantial arc of die failure covering approximately one-quarter of the coin's circumference. Multiple cuds on a single coin indicate that the obverse die was severely deteriorated, with several independent sections of the die rim fracturing and falling away, leaving voids that produced raised featureless blobs of metal in the left and upper-left portions of the obverse. The cuds disrupt portions of the date area and surrounding stars, obliterating design elements within the affected zone. Coins with multiple cuds represent specimens struck at the very end of a die's service life, when accumulated striking stress had propagated fractures through the die rim at multiple points — continued production beyond this point risked catastrophic die failure. The Indian Head Cent was designed by James Barton Longacre and struck at the Philadelphia Mint, the sole production facility for Indian Head cents in 1889. Composed of 95% copper and 5% tin and zinc, the coin weighs 3.11 grams with a diameter of 19.05 mm. The 1889 date had a mintage of approximately 48.9 million pieces. Longacre's design features a Liberty figure wearing a Native American headdress on the obverse with an oak wreath and shield on the reverse. The extensive circumferential coverage of this multi-cud example — spanning from the lower left past the upper left quadrant — makes it an unusually dramatic specimen within the cud collecting specialty, where the visual impact of the error directly correlates with the extent of die rim lost.