SKH-1c-1948S-02 Spiked Head

Description

San Francisco's 1948 Lincoln wheat cent production yielded at least two dies with the distinctive spiked head fracture pattern, and SKH-1c-1948S-02 documents the second of these. Cataloged by Cuds on Coins, the code designates a spiked head (SKH) on the one-cent denomination (1c) from the 1948 San Francisco issue (1948S), with the sequential number 02 confirming it as the second distinct die. San Francisco struck approximately 81.74 million cents in 1948, a substantially lower figure than the Philadelphia and Denver outputs for the same year, which makes S-mint wheat cent varieties of any type somewhat more collectible due to the smaller surviving population. The spiked head develops through a well-understood metallurgical process: repeated striking creates cyclic stress in the die steel, and fatigue cracks nucleate at points of maximum stress concentration — particularly where the rim cavity meets the deepest relief of Lincoln's portrait at the top of the head. Once the crack opens, each subsequent strike forces planchet metal into the gap, building the raised spike that gives the variety its name. Victor David Brenner's portrait, with its fine hair detail extending to the very top of the head close to the rim, creates an inherently vulnerable zone that made spiked heads a recurring feature of wheat cent production across all three operating mints. The distinction between SKH-1c-1948S-01 and SKH-1c-1948S-02 lies in the specific trajectory and characteristics of each spike — crack angle, entry point relative to the hairline, length of extension from the rim, and width all differ between individual die failures. Collectors should use 5-10x magnification focused on the 12 o'clock region and compare against reference images for this specific catalog number to confirm attribution.

External References