1920 (S) Standing Liberty Quarter - RCD-25c-1920S-01 Retained Cud

Description

First documented retained cud on a 1920-S Standing Liberty Quarter, this variety records a die rim fracture on one of the most artistically acclaimed coin designs in American numismatic history. Hermon Atkins MacNeil's Standing Liberty Quarter, introduced in 1916, featured a full-length figure of Liberty holding a shield and olive branch in a high-relief composition that proved challenging for production throughout its 1916-1930 run. The high relief concentrated striking pressure and accelerated die wear, contributing to rim failures like the one documented here. San Francisco struck approximately 6.38 million quarters in 1920, a moderate output that sustained the denomination's circulation needs on the West Coast. The retained cud designation means the die rim fractured during production and the broken section came free but stayed in place, producing coins with a raised rim area that keeps its design — unlike a full cud where the lost fragment leaves a cavity that fills with metal during striking, coming up as a lump with no design. As the first entry for 1920-S, this variety establishes the baseline for retained cud documentation on this date within the Standing Liberty series. Cataloged by Cuds on Coins and documented October 4, 2018, the variety carries no known cross-references in other attribution systems. Standing Liberty Quarter die varieties are prized by collectors who appreciate the intersection of artistic significance and production anomaly documentation.

Cross References

• Cross reference: none. 10/04/2018.

External References