1920 (S) Standing Liberty Quarter - RCD-25c-1920S-02 Retained Cud

Description

Second retained cud cataloged for the 1920-S Standing Liberty Quarter, this variety documents another die rim failure on Hermon Atkins MacNeil's masterwork quarter design struck at the San Francisco Mint. Standing Liberty Quarters endured notoriously rapid wear in circulation — the raised date on coins struck through 1924 wore smooth quickly, and the high-relief standing figure of Liberty concentrated striking pressure in ways that accelerated die fatigue. A retained cud captures the stage where the rim piece has broken free but is held in position, producing a raised or out-of-line rim area on struck coins that still shows its design rather than the blank mass of a full cud. San Francisco's 1920 quarter production of approximately 6.38 million pieces was substantial for the series, and two documented retained cuds indicates that multiple dies experienced rim fractures during the production run — potentially at different locations around the rim, as each retained cud records a unique die failure. Cataloged by Cuds on Coins with documentation dated April 15, 2019, this variety carries no known cross-references in other attribution systems. The Standing Liberty Quarter series is particularly rich in die failure varieties due to the design's challenging relief, and retained cuds from the relatively plentiful 1920-S date offer collectors an accessible entry point into this artistically significant series' die variety spectrum.

Cross References

• Cross reference: none. 04/15/2019.

External References