CU-1C-1974D-07 Cud

Description

The seventh documented cud variety for the 1974 Denver Lincoln Memorial cent, CU-1C-1974D-07 is cataloged in the Cuds on Coins system and represents yet another die rim failure from this exceptionally high-mintage production year. At approximately 4.24 billion pieces, Denver's 1974 cent output pushed the facility's die inventory to its operational limits, and the cumulative mechanical stress on individual dies manifested in a variety of failure modes — cuds, die cracks, die clashes, and other forms of deterioration. The cud documented here resulted when a section of die steel at the rim fatigued to the point of complete separation, leaving an unrestricted cavity that allowed planchet metal to extrude during subsequent strikes. Without the "R" suffix in its catalog number, CU-1C-1974D-07 is classified as an obverse cud, appearing on the portrait side of the coin. Seven cuds into the 1974-D census, the variety of rim failure positions documents that the stress conditions leading to fracture were not concentrated at a single vulnerable point on the die but rather distributed across multiple locations around the circumference — consistent with the expectation that different dies, with their individual metallurgical characteristics and operational histories, would fail at different points. Each die's rim has its own unique microstructure, hardness profile, and history of thermal cycling from repeated strikes, all of which influence where and when a fatigue crack will nucleate and propagate to failure. CU-1C-1974D-07's specific break geometry and clock-position provide the diagnostics needed to distinguish it from the other twelve entries in the 1974-D cud catalog.

Attribution History

• Discovered by Dan Hemperly
• CU-1C-1974D-07
• Expert attribution by Cuds on Coins

External References