SKH-1c-1954D-01 Spiked Head

Description

First documented spiked head for the 1954-D Lincoln Wheat Cent, this variety comes from the mid-1950s when the Denver Mint was producing enormous quantities of cents for a booming postwar economy. With only four years remaining before the Wheat Cent design would give way to the Lincoln Memorial reverse in 1959, the 1954-D occupies the late stretch of a design type that had been in continuous production since 1909. A spiked head occurs when foreign matter lodges in the die cavity near Lincoln's portrait, creating a void in the die that produces a raised spike of metal on the struck coin. SKH-1c-1954D-01 is cataloged by Cuds on Coins and is not listed in the Cohen Index. As the sole documented spiked head for this date and mint, it may represent the beginning of a longer catalog — other spiked heads could exist among the millions of surviving 1954-D cents but remain undiscovered or unreported. Denver's high production volume during this period employed many die pairs, each susceptible to accumulating debris during extended press runs. The variety was struck in standard bronze alloy at the Denver Mint facility.

Attribution History

• Discovered by JC Stevens
• Cross reference number: Cohen Index not listed. 11/17/2017.
• Expert attribution by Cuds on Coins

External References