CU-1c-1892-01 Cud

Description

Cataloged by Cuds on Coins with the cross-reference note directing researchers to "See CU-1c-1892-01 for cud information," this 1892 Indian Head cent cud documents a rim die break on one of the later-date issues in James Barton Longacre's iconic design that ran from 1859 through 1909. Indian Head cents of the 1890s were struck exclusively at Philadelphia in the bronze composition (95% copper, 5% tin and zinc) adopted in 1864, and annual mintages typically ranged from 30 to 50 million — substantial quantities that nonetheless pale beside the billions produced annually in the modern era. Die breaks on Indian Head cents reflect the manufacturing conditions of the late nineteenth century: dies were manufactured at the Philadelphia Mint's die shop using hubbing presses that had been progressively improved since mid-century but still relied on manual operation for key steps, and die steel, while superior to the hand-forged billets of earlier decades, was less uniform than twentieth-century tool steels. The 1892 cent saw a mintage of approximately 37.6 million pieces, and cuds from this date would have occurred during the normal service life of dies that were expected to produce roughly 100,000 to 200,000 impressions before replacement. No separate cross-references to other attribution systems exist, and the self-referencing catalog note suggests the primary documentation resides within the Cuds on Coins database entry itself. Collectors of Indian Head cent die breaks value these varieties as windows into the production mechanics of the Victorian-era Mint.

Attribution History

• Cross reference: none. See CU-1c-1892-01 for cud information.
• Expert attribution by Cuds on Coins

External References