SKH-1c-1972-10 Spiked Head

Description

Reaching double digits in the catalog, SKH-1c-1972-10 was attributed by the Cuds on Coins team on March 18, 2018 — just twelve days after the ninth entry — making it the tenth documented spiked head for the 1972 Philadelphia Lincoln Memorial cent. No external cross-references have been established. The March 2018 period proved remarkably productive for 1972-P spiked head documentation, with three varieties (08, 09, and 10) attributed within approximately five weeks. This concentrated burst likely reflects a collector (or multiple collectors) undertaking systematic searches through significant quantities of 1972 Philadelphia cents during this window. Ten spiked head varieties for a single date and mint represents a substantial catalog — reflecting both the enormous 1972 Philadelphia mintage (approximately 2.93 billion coins requiring extensive die usage) and the sustained collector effort devoted to examining this date. Each of the ten varieties originated from a different obverse die that developed portrait-apex fatigue cracking during its service life, and each produces a spike with unique geometric characteristics that enable individual identification. The milestone tenth entry demonstrates that the 1972 Philadelphia Mint's die usage patterns created a statistically meaningful population of spiked head varieties — enough to observe patterns in failure frequency and crack geometry that contribute to broader understanding of die deterioration mechanisms in high-volume cent production.

Attribution History

• Discovered by Alan English
• Cross reference: none. 03/18/2018.
• Expert attribution by Cuds on Coins

External References