SKH-10c-1924D-01 Spiked Head

Description

The first spiked head documented for the 1924-D Mercury Dime, the SKH-10c-1924D-01 displays the characteristic die chip protrusion from the highest point of Liberty's winged Phrygian cap. The 1924-D date saw a production of approximately 6.8 million dimes at the Denver Mint — one of the lower mintages in the Mercury Dime series — and this relatively limited production means fewer dies were employed and fewer die failure specimens were generated. A more recently cataloged variety (October 2024), this spiked head was documented after decades of the Mercury Dime series being studied, demonstrating that new die varieties continue to surface even on well-examined coin types. The spiked head mechanism — metal flowing into a chip or crack at the die's deepest cavity point — produces protrusions that vary in size, angle, and position depending on the exact nature of the die deterioration, making each spiked head unique despite sharing the same general formation process. Attributed by Cuds on Coins, the 1924-D Mercury Dime spiked head adds a lower-mintage date to the spiked head roster, where the combination of relative scarcity and die variety documentation creates a variety that is doubly challenging to locate — scarce both as a base coin and as a specific die failure.

Attribution History

• Discovered by Garry Weber
• Cross reference: none. 10/27/2024.
• Expert attribution by Cuds on Coins

External References