1892 Indian Head Cent Rim Cud (Reverse 11:00)

Description

This 1892 Indian Head Cent presents a rim cud at the 11 o'clock position on the reverse, where a piece of the die fractured and separated from the die face at the rim, leaving a raised featureless area of metal on every coin struck after the break occurred. The cud's location on the upper-left portion of the reverse places it near the oak and laurel wreath that frames the denomination, creating a smooth raised blob that obliterates the underlying design detail in the affected area. Several die varieties are documented for the 1892 Indian Head Cent with cud and pre-cud breaks, indicating that multiple reverse dies for this year developed rim fractures during production — a pattern suggesting either systemic die steel quality issues, aggressive production schedules that extended die use beyond optimal limits, or both factors contributing to an elevated die failure rate for this date. James Barton Longacre designed the Indian Head Cent, which ran from 1859 through 1909, with the obverse depicting Liberty wearing a Native American feathered headdress and the reverse featuring a wreath encircling ONE CENT. Composed of 95% copper and 5% tin and zinc, the coin weighs 3.11 grams with a 19.05 mm diameter. The 1892 date had a mintage of approximately 37.6 million pieces, all struck at the Philadelphia Mint, which was the sole mint producing Indian Head Cents during most of the series' run (San Francisco struck them only in 1908 and 1909). Rim cuds are actively collected as a distinct specialty within error numismatics, with the position on the clock face (11 o'clock in this case) serving as a standard location descriptor that enables collectors to differentiate between multiple cud varieties on the same date.