SKH-1c-1956D-01 Spiked Head

Description

Opening the spiked head record for the 1956 Denver Mint Lincoln Wheat Cent, this inaugural entry carries a Cohen cross-reference of 56D- (with the specific Cohen number pending full assignment) and was documented on September 26, 2018. The spiked head on a Wheat Cent forms through the same die clash mechanism as on later Lincoln designs: when the obverse and reverse dies contact each other without a planchet between them, elements of the reverse wheat ears design transfer into the obverse die, producing a raised protrusion from Lincoln's portrait on subsequent strikes. The Wheat Cent reverse, with its two stylized wheat stalks framing ONE CENT and UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, presents linear elements that can create distinctive spike impressions during die-to-die contact. Denver Mint production of 1956-D cents was substantial — 1,098,201,100 coins — consuming a large number of die pairs and ensuring that die clash events were statistically distributed across the production run. As the sole documented spiked head for 1956-D, SKH-1c-1956D-01 suggests either that this date has received less systematic examination than some others, or that the Denver facility's die management practices in 1956 effectively minimized clash events. The 1956-D was the antepenultimate Denver Mint Wheat Cent — only 1957-D and 1958-D followed before the transition to the Memorial reverse. Cataloged by Cuds on Coins, this variety connects the late Wheat Cent era to the broader spiked head phenomenon that would become one of the most actively collected modern die variety specialties.

Attribution History

• Discovered by JC Stevens
• Cross reference number:  Cohen 56D-. 09/26/2018.
• Expert attribution by Cuds on Coins

External References