SKH-10c-1940S-03 Spiked Head

Description

Third in the 1940-S Mercury Dime spiked head sequence, SKH-10c-1940S-03 documents another distinct working die that developed a crack at or near Liberty's head on Adolph Weinman's obverse, producing a raised spike on struck coins. The gap between sequence numbers 01 and 03 — with 02 absent from this batch — illustrates that the Cuds on Coins catalog assigns numbers sequentially as varieties are documented, and each number represents a physically different die with its own crack characteristics. What distinguishes one 1940-S spiked head from another is the specific geometry of the crack: the angle at which the spike projects from the head, the length of the raised line, and the precise location on or near the winged cap where the crack originates. Multiple spiked heads from a single date-mint combination are not unusual — when die steel develops fatigue in the head region of one die, similar stress conditions across contemporary dies from the same production run can produce analogous failures. Struck at the San Francisco Mint in 90% silver at 2.5 grams. The catalog code reads SKH (spiked head), 10c (denomination), 1940S (year and mint), and 03 (sequence). Careful comparison of the spike's angle, length, and origin point against reference images is necessary to distinguish this variety from the companion SKH-01 and SKH-04 entries.

Attribution History

• Discovered by Keith Christenson
• Expert attribution by Cuds on Coins

External References