1945 (D) Lincoln Wheat Cent - PC-1c-1945D-01 Pre-Cud

Description

Classified as a pre-cud, PC-1c-1945D-01 captures an early stage of die failure on the 1945-D Lincoln Wheat Cent — the point at which a crack has enclosed a fragment of die steel at the rim while the fragment is still part of the die face. In a complete cud, the broken piece detaches entirely, leaving a void in the die that produces a featureless raised blob on struck coins. A pre-cud, by contrast, shows the rim-to-rim die crack that can precede separation: the metal has failed along the crack, but the fragment is still part of the die and has not moved, a stage that documents the mechanics of die disintegration in progress. Cross-references JCc-1945_027 and JCc-1945_033 link this pre-cud to the later full-cud stages struck from the same die after the fragment eventually broke free, providing a before-and-after sequence of die failure documentation. Denver produced 266.268 million Lincoln Cents in 1945 in the wartime shell-case alloy composition, which continued through 1946 before the return to standard bronze in 1947. Cataloged by Cuds on Coins, this pre-cud variety offers collectors a snapshot of incipient die failure — the structural precursor to the more dramatic cuds that would follow as the die continued its service.

Cross References

• Cross reference: JCc-1945_027, 033. 12/01/2323. Cross reference: none. 08/02/2018.

External References