DC-1c-1953-05R Die Chip

Description

Cataloged by the Cuds on Coins research team as DC-1c-1953-05R and added to the database on May 8, 2018, this Lincoln Wheat Cent from the 1953 Philadelphia Mint features a reverse die chip — a raised bump on the coin's surface created when a small piece of the die steel fractured away, leaving a void that filled with metal during striking. The 1953 Lincoln Wheat Cent was produced during the postwar era when U.S. coin production had stabilized after the disruptions of World War II, and Philadelphia struck approximately 256.8 million cents that year. Victor David Brenner's iconic wheat ear reverse, used from the cent's 1909 introduction through 1958, features two wheat stalks flanking the inscriptions ONE CENT and UNITED STATES OF AMERICA — a design whose intricate detail made it susceptible to various forms of die deterioration over the course of a die's working life. Die chips represent a progressive failure mode: as a die strikes thousands of coins under tremendous pressure, micro-fractures develop in the hardened steel surface, and when a fragment finally separates, every subsequent coin struck from that die carries the raised lump corresponding to the missing piece. No specific cross-reference number beyond the Cuds on Coins catalog has been assigned. The 05R designation in the catalog code identifies this as the fifth documented reverse die chip for the 1953 Philadelphia date.

Attribution History

• Discovered by Keith Christenson
• Cross reference: none. 05/08/2018.
• Expert attribution by Cuds on Coins

External References