CU-1C-1966-03 Cud

Description

Recorded as CU-1C-1966-03, this is the third documented cud variety for the 1966 Lincoln cent and part of a substantial group of six cud varieties cataloged for this date. The existence of six distinct cuds for a single year reflects the massive scale of 1966 cent production at the Philadelphia Mint, where 2,188,147,783 business strike cents were manufactured under the ongoing national effort to address the coin shortage that had prompted the Coinage Act of 1965. Each cud represents an individual die that experienced a unique rim fracture, and the specific characteristics of the cud on the finished coin — its clock position relative to the design elements, its width along the rim, and its depth or protrusion height — serve as the distinguishing features that separate one cud variety from another. A cud is mechanically distinct from a die chip (which occurs in the interior of the die face) and from a rim die crack (where the die fractures but the piece remains in place). In a true cud, the broken rim fragment is completely separated from the die, leaving an open void that produces a featureless raised area on the coin where no design detail can be transferred. Cross-referenced as CU-1C-1966-03 and attributed by Cuds on Coins. The 1966 cent carries no mint mark, continuing the three-year policy of mint mark suppression designed to prevent collectors from differentiating between mint facilities and hoarding coins from perceived lower-production sources. Struck on a 3.11-gram, 19mm planchet of 95% copper and 5% zinc.

Attribution History

• Discovered by Fred Weinberg
• CU-1C-1966-03
• Expert attribution by Cuds on Coins

External References