CU-1C-1974D-10 Cud

Description

The tenth documented cud for the 1974 Denver Lincoln Memorial cent, CU-1C-1974D-10 brings the census into double digits and underscores the extraordinary scale of die consumption at the Denver Mint during this production year. With approximately 4.24 billion cents struck, Denver cycled through an enormous inventory of die pairs — each serving for a finite number of impressions before wear, cracking, or other forms of deterioration rendered it unfit for continued service. Among the many modes of die failure, rim fractures resulting in cuds are particularly conspicuous because they produce a visually dramatic alteration to the finished coin: a substantial raised mass of metal at the rim that is immediately apparent even to the unaided eye in many cases. CU-1C-1974D-10 documents yet another die that reached its rim-failure endpoint during the 1974-D production run. The Cuds on Coins catalog number provides a precise reference for this specific die and its associated break geometry — information that allows collectors and dealers to distinguish this variety from the twelve other 1974-D cuds. The catalog notably skips number 11 (no CU-1C-1974D-11 has been documented), meaning the next entry after -10 is -12. Whether this gap reflects a cataloging decision, a retracted attribution, or simply the absence of a specimen originally assigned that number is not documented in the available reference material. Regardless, CU-1C-1974D-10 holds its position as the tenth confirmed cud for this date, occupying a distinct circumferential location on the die rim from all other entries.

Attribution History

• Discovered by Chuck Newman
• CU-1C-1974D-10
• Expert attribution by Cuds on Coins

External References