1966 Roosevelt Dime - CU-10c-1966-04 Rim Cud

Description

Fourth rim cud documented on the 1966 Roosevelt Dime — a date of particular compositional significance as the second year of clad coinage following the elimination of 90% silver dimes after 1964. The 1966 dime carried no mintmark despite being struck at multiple facilities, a policy implemented from 1965 through 1967 to discourage hoarding during the silver-to-clad transition. Cuds on Coins cataloged CU-10c-1966-04 with no additional cross-references, documenting where part of the die's rim gutter was lost, leaving a raised interruption in the design rim that tracks the rim's course. The new copper-nickel clad composition — a pure copper core sandwiched between 75% copper / 25% nickel outer layers — presented different metallurgical challenges for die manufacturers compared to the softer silver alloy. The harder clad planchets transmitted greater impact force back into the dies during striking, potentially accelerating die fatigue and fracture in stress-concentrated areas at the rim-field transition. John R. Sinnock's Roosevelt portrait on the obverse and his torch-with-branches reverse design had been in continuous use since 1946, and the 1965 transition to clad composition did not alter the design but did change the edge appearance from silver to the visible copper-nickel sandwich stripe. Four documented cuds for a single mintmark-less year represents notable die fracture activity for the relatively small-diameter dime denomination.

External References