RCD-1c-1902-02R Retained Cud

Description

The second documented retained cud for the 1902 Indian Head Cent, the RCD-1c-1902-02R records die rim failure during the series' penultimate decade of production. The 1902 date saw a mintage exceeding 87 million cents at the Philadelphia Mint — one of the higher production years in the Indian Head series — and this volume of coinage required a substantial number of working dies, each subject to the progressive wear and eventual failure that produced die varieties. Two retained cuds for the date indicates that at least two separate dies experienced rim fractures where the broken fragment remained attached during continued striking. The Indian Head Cent series would continue for only seven more years before being replaced by Victor David Brenner's Lincoln Cent in 1909, making varieties from the early 1900s part of the design's closing chapter. Attributed by Cuds on Coins, the RCD-1c-1902-02R as the second retained cud demonstrates a pattern of die stress consistent with the high production demands placed on Philadelphia Mint cent dies during this era of peak coinage output. Retained cuds from common-date Indian Head Cents offer accessible entry points for collectors interested in nineteenth-century die failure varieties.

Attribution History

• Discovered by Chuck Newman
• Expert attribution by Cuds on Coins

External References