1946 (D) Lincoln Wheat Cent - SKH-1c-1946D-04 Spiked Head

Description

Fourth spiked head documented for the 1946 Denver Mint Lincoln Wheat Cent, cross-referenced in the Cohen Index (listed as NL, indicating the variety was noted but not yet assigned a full Cohen number at the time of cataloging on August 3, 2022). Spiked heads on Wheat Cents form the same way as on later series: a crack opens in the obverse die between the rim and Lincoln's bust, and it strikes up as a raised spike. The 1946-D Lincoln Wheat Cent was produced at the Denver Mint during the first year of postwar coin production, following the end of World War II. Wartime coin production had been characterized by material substitutions (the 1943 steel cent, the 1944-1946 shell case alloy cent), and 1946 represented a return toward normalcy in Mint operations, though the shell case alloy continued through the year. Denver's cent production was substantial in 1946 as the economy transitioned from wartime to peacetime footing, with consumer demand for coinage surging as rationing ended and commercial activity expanded. Four spiked heads from this date means at least four obverse dies cracked into the bust during the year's production run. Cataloged by Cuds on Coins, this variety connects the postwar Lincoln Wheat Cent production with the broader catalog of spiked head die cracks documented across the series' fifty-year history.

Cross References

• Cross reference number: Cohen Index NL. 08/03/2022.

External References