RCD-1c-1943-41R Retained Cud

Description

Pushing past forty documented reverse retained cuds for a single date and mint, the RCD-1c-1943-41R cataloged by Cuds on Coins on the 1943 Philadelphia Mint Lincoln Wheat Cent represents an extraordinary depth of reverse die failure documentation. Forty-one reverse dies with detectable rim fractures is a figure that would be remarkable for any denomination in any era, and for a single mint's production during a single year it is virtually unmatched. The 1943 wartime steel cent's aggressive planchet material drove this extraordinary count, as the zinc-coated steel was significantly harder than the bronze dies were engineered to strike. Retained cuds form when the fractured die section remains trapped during subsequent striking, and at catalog number 41R the reverse die failure record for 1943-P alone has accumulated more entries than most entire decades of normal-composition cent production yield. The reverse wheat ears design, with its detailed stalks and lettering approaching the rim, provided multiple points where design depth thinned the die wall and created vulnerability to cracking. For the collector, reverse-designated retained cuds on 1943 steel cents offer a focused collecting path within the broader 1943 die failure catalog, with the "R" suffix identifying a specific subset of varieties concentrated on a single die orientation.

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