PC-1c-1940-01R Pre-Cud

Description

First reverse pre-cud documented for the 1940 Philadelphia Lincoln wheat cent, PC-1c-1940-01R catalogs the earliest stage of rim-area die failure on this pre-war production date. The Cuds on Coins documentation, dated March 28, 2022, establishes this as the initial pre-cud entry for the 1940 Philadelphia issue. Pre-cuds occupy a specific and well-defined position in the die failure hierarchy: the die steel has cracked near the rim — the highest-stress zone during striking — but the crack has not yet advanced enough to displace a fragment of the die. On struck coins, the pre-cud manifests as a fine raised line or subtle ridge near the rim, tracing the path of the underlying fracture in the die surface. Philadelphia struck approximately 586.8 million cents in 1940, a substantial production run that preceded the wartime production increases that would follow in subsequent years. The standard bronze composition (95% copper, 5% tin and zinc) used for 1940 cents represents the normal metallurgical baseline against which the anomalous 1943 steel cent experience can be compared — bronze planchets imposed moderate stress on working dies, and pre-cuds on bronze-era cents document the typical rate of die rim failure under standard operating conditions. Victor David Brenner's wheat reverse design, in production since 1909, provides the artistic canvas for this die failure, and the pre-cud's position along the rim determines which design elements are crossed by the incipient crack line. As the only documented reverse pre-cud for the 1940 Philadelphia cent, this variety may represent either a genuinely uncommon occurrence or an indication that additional research could expand the census as more specimens receive systematic examination.

Attribution History

• Cross reference: none. 03/28/2022.
• Expert attribution by Cuds on Coins

External References