1972 Lincoln Memorial Cent - SKH-1c-1972-17 Spiked Head

Description

SKH-1c-1972-17 is a spiked head on the 1972 Lincoln Memorial cent. No specific attribution date or cross-references to external services have been published for this variety. The sustained documentation effort spanning from 2016 through the present has methodically recorded the physical evidence of die-after-die failing at the portrait apex — the predictable weak point in the obverse die design where the deepest cavity creates the highest stress concentration under repeated impact loading. SKH-1c-1972-17 adds another unique die failure to this record, its spike geometry distinguishing it from all sixteen previously documented varieties through differences in angle, length, width, origin point, and curvature that reflect the individual metallurgical characteristics of its specific piece of die steel. For collectors pursuing a complete set of 1972-P spiked heads, the seventeenth variety represents the current frontier of the catalog — though given the enormous original mintage and the statistical likelihood of additional undiscovered die failures, further expansion of the documented census remains possible as new material continues to surface and be examined by dedicated variety specialists.

External References