1919 (S) Lincoln Wheat Cent - CU-1C-1919S-03 Rim Cud

Description

At the mechanical level, a cud is the visible consequence of catastrophic die fracture. When a coining die — a cylinder of hardened tool steel — absorbs the shock of pressing design into metal at pressures exceeding forty tons, internal stress accumulates along grain boundaries and microscopic inclusions in the steel. Over thousands of impressions, these stress points nucleate cracks that slowly extend through the die body. If a crack reaches the rim, part of the die's rim gutter can be lost. CU-1C-1919S-03, the third cataloged rim cud on the 1919 San Francisco Lincoln Wheat cent, preserves exactly this outcome. On each subsequent strike the cud appears as a raised interruption in the design rim that tracks the rim's course. Post-WWI San Francisco cent production resumed peacetime rhythms in 1919, but the 1919-S mintage of 139.76 million pieces still required substantial die consumption, and the statistical inevitability of rim fractures across that many die pairs is reflected in the multiple cuds cataloged for this date.

Cross References

• CU-1C-1919S-03

External References