RRDC-5c-1942S-07R Bisecting Rim to Rim Die Crack

Description

Seventh documented reverse bisecting rim-to-rim die crack for the 1942-S wartime Jefferson Nickel, this variety brings the total RRDC count for this single date and mint to an impressive seven — a concentration of complete die fractures that stands out even among heavily studied wartime issues. Cataloged by Cuds on Coins on August 16, 2024, making it among the most recently documented entries for the 1942-S wartime nickel, this variety carries no known cross-references. The 1942-S was struck in the emergency 56% copper, 35% silver, 9% manganese composition, with the large S mintmark placed prominently above Monticello's dome rather than in the traditional right-of-building position. Seven reverse RRDCs for a single date is a remarkable figure that invites metallurgical questions about whether the wartime alloy's different hardness, ductility, and thermal characteristics imposed greater stress on dies compared to the standard copper-nickel composition. Bisecting cracks represent complete structural failures where metal fatigue propagated entirely across the die face, and each new documented example adds to the statistical picture of die longevity under wartime production conditions. San Francisco struck approximately 32.9 million wartime nickels in 1942 during the partial-year transition to the silver alloy, and the dies used for this production were subjected to striking forces optimized for an unfamiliar metal composition that was being used for the first time in American coinage history.

Attribution History

• Discovered by Joshua Davis
• Cross reference: none.  08/16/2024.
• Expert attribution by Cuds on Coins

External References