SKH-10c-1936D-01 Spiked Head

Description

A spiked head variety on the 1936-D Mercury Dime, the SKH-10c-1936D-01 documents die chip deterioration from the middle period of the Mercury Dime series — two decades into its thirty-year production run (1916-1945). The 1936-D was produced in substantial quantities at the Denver Mint as American coinage production recovered from the depths of the Great Depression-era mintage lows of the early 1930s. By 1936, mintages across all denominations were rebounding toward pre-Depression levels, and the Denver Mint's increased dime output placed corresponding demands on die inventories. Spiked heads form when the die steel at the apex of Liberty's winged Phrygian cap — the deepest point of the die cavity where striking force concentrates — develops a chip or crack that allows metal to fill the void and create a raised protrusion on struck coins. Attributed by Cuds on Coins with a catalog date of June 2017, this variety occupies the recovery era of American Mint production, after the extreme low mintages of 1931-1933 when some dates were not produced at all. The Mercury Dime's elegant design by Adolph A. Weinman continued to showcase the same die vulnerability at Liberty's cap regardless of production volume or economic conditions.

Attribution History

• Discovered by Soren Rollin
• Cross reference: none. 06/26/2017.
• Expert attribution by Cuds on Coins

External References