1941 Lincoln Wheat Cent - CU-1c-1941-02 Cud

Description

Struck in the final full year before America's entry into World War II reshaped the nation's coinage, this 1941 Lincoln Wheat Cent carries a cud cataloged as CU-1c-1941-02. The attack on Pearl Harbor in December 1941 set in motion the metallurgical changes that would transform the cent denomination — 1943 brought zinc-coated steel planchets, and 1944-1945 saw shell-case brass recycled from spent ammunition cartridges. But the 1941 cent was struck in the standard pre-war bronze composition of 95% copper and 5% tin-zinc, using the same Wheat Cent design that had been in continuous production since 1909. The "02" suffix indicates this was the second cud documented for the 1941 Philadelphia date. A cud results from a die rim fracture where the broken segment separates completely from the die body, leaving a void that fills with metal during each subsequent strike. The raised, blank area on the finished coin stands in stark contrast to the surrounding design detail, making cuds among the most visually identifiable die errors. This variety preserves a moment of die failure from a year poised on the threshold of wartime transformation.

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