CU-1C-1952-04R Cud

Description

Fourth reverse cud for the 1952 Philadelphia Mint Lincoln Wheat Cent, CU-1C-1952-04R documents a rim die break on a coin produced during the Korean War period. The 1952-P cent had a mintage of approximately 186 million pieces — a moderate figure that reflects the early 1950s economic environment when cent production had stabilized after the enormous wartime and immediate post-war runs. Even at this reduced pace, the mechanical stresses of coining eventually cause rim failures, and CU-1C-1952-04R records one such event where a segment of the reverse die rim fractured and separated, creating a cavity that produced a raised featureless mass on every subsequent strike. The Cuds on Coins catalog assigns this variety its sequential number based on the order of discovery and documentation, and "04R" indicates the fourth known reverse cud for the 1952-P date. Die break collectors appreciate cuds from the late Wheat Cent era (1950-1958) because these represent the final years of Victor David Brenner's original wheat-stalk reverse design, which would give way to Frank Gasparro's Lincoln Memorial in 1959. As the series approached its conclusion, fewer total dies were needed compared to the high-volume 1940s, making cud varieties from these later years somewhat less common in the overall population. Proper attribution requires examining the rim position and matching it precisely to the catalog reference for CU-1C-1952-04R.

Attribution History

• Discovered by Chuck Newman
• CU-1C-1952-04R
• Expert attribution by Cuds on Coins

External References