SKH-1c-1950-18 Spiked Head

Description

Eighteenth spiked head variety documented for the 1950 Philadelphia Lincoln wheat cent, SKH-1c-1950-18 records a die clash artifact from a year when post-war America was adjusting to the early stages of the Korean War. Philadelphia produced approximately 272.6 million cents in 1950, maintaining the standard bronze composition (95% copper, 5% tin and zinc) that had been restored after the wartime steel and shell-casing-brass experiments of 1943-1946. The high count of spiked head varieties for 1950 — at least 18 for Philadelphia alone — suggests that production conditions at the Philadelphia Mint during this period generated die clashes with notable frequency, possibly related to press speeds, die maintenance schedules, or planchet feed mechanisms. A spiked head forms through the die clash mechanism: obverse and reverse dies collide without a planchet, and a portion of the reverse wheat ears design impresses into the obverse die surface near Lincoln's portrait. The resulting depression in the die transfers as a raised spike on coins struck subsequently, with each variety distinguished by the unique position, direction, and length of its spike. Lincoln's portrait, sculpted by Victor David Brenner for the 1909 debut, was entering its fifth decade of continuous production by 1950, and the wheat ears reverse by the same designer was approaching its final decade before the 1959 introduction of the Memorial reverse. Cataloged by Cuds on Coins, SKH-1c-1950-18 contributes to a spiked head census that, when analyzed across dates and mints, reveals production-era patterns in die clash frequency. Collectors should use 10-15x magnification focused on the head and profile area of Lincoln's portrait, looking for a thin raised line projecting outward that replicates consistently across multiple specimens from this die.

Attribution History

• Discovered by Chuck Newman
• Cross reference number: none. 06/11/2018.
• Expert attribution by Cuds on Coins

External References