CU-1C-1916-01 Cud

Description

First and only documented cud for the 1916 Philadelphia Mint Lincoln Wheat Cent, CU-1C-1916-01 preserves a rim-level die fracture from one of the earliest dates in the Wheat Cent series. The 1916 cent was struck during the Progressive Era, just seven years after Victor David Brenner's Lincoln Cent debuted in 1909 as the first regular-issue U.S. coin to feature a real person's portrait. Philadelphia produced approximately 131.8 million cents in 1916, a modest figure compared to later wartime production but substantial for the era. A cud forms when a section of the die rim cracks and separates under the repetitive stress of striking, leaving a void that captures planchet metal on each subsequent impression to produce a raised, featureless mass at the coin's edge. The single documented cud for 1916-P contrasts sharply with the dozens known for high-volume wartime dates like 1943 and 1944, reflecting both the lower production volumes of the 1910s and the smaller number of surviving specimens available for die variety research. Cataloged by Cuds on Coins under cross-reference CU-1C-1916-01, this early-date cud is a scarce find that connects die break collecting with the pre-World War I era of American coinage, when cent production was measured in hundreds of millions rather than billions.

Attribution History

• Discovered by Keith Christenson
• CU-1C-1916-01
• Expert attribution by Cuds on Coins

External References