1974 Floating Die Clash FDC-1C-1974-01

Description

One of the rarest and most fascinating error types in American numismatics, FDC-1c-1974-01 is a floating die clash on the 1974 Philadelphia Mint Lincoln Memorial cent — one of only approximately six known examples of this phenomenon on the entire Lincoln cent series. A floating die clash occurs when a fragment of die steel breaks away from one die and becomes trapped between the die pair during striking operations. Rather than being expelled from the press, the fragment "floats" between the dies and impresses its carried design elements onto coins it contacts, producing incuse, mirror-image design details in locations where they do not belong. In this case, the die fragment carried a portion of the motto IN GOD WE TRUST: the incuse, mirror-image letters "OD WE" can be observed above LIBERTY on affected specimens. A faint impression of the rim gutter from the die fragment is also present, providing additional confirmation that the transferred design came from a separated piece of die rather than from some other mechanism. This variety is cross-referenced as LC-74-1 in The Cud Book (Thurman and Margolis, 1997) and as CU-1c-1974-06 on the Cuds on Coins website — the latter designation reflecting the fact that the same die fragment responsible for the floating clash also produced a cud at position 06 on the die rim. This connection between the cud and the floating clash makes the variety a remarkable case study in progressive die failure: first a fragment separated (creating the cud), and then that fragment remained in the press long enough to impress its design onto subsequent strikes before being dislodged or the die pair was retired. Of the approximately six known floating die clash examples on Lincoln cents, FDC-1c-1974-01 is documented as the most abundant, though "abundant" is a relative term — this remains an exceptionally scarce variety by any standard. Attribution by MadDieClashes.

External References