CU-1C-1977-05 Cud

Description

Documented as the fifth rim break variety for the 1977 Philadelphia Lincoln Memorial cent, CU-1C-1977-05 continues the extensive cud census cataloged by Cuds on Coins. With approximately 4.47 billion cents struck at Philadelphia that year, the demand on die inventory was extraordinary. High-speed coinage presses delivered repeated blows at pressures sufficient to fully impress the design into copper planchets, and under this relentless mechanical cycling, even the best tool steel eventually succumbed to fatigue failure. The rim of a coinage die is particularly vulnerable because the sharp transition between the die face and the collar groove acts as a natural stress riser. When a fatigue crack reaches critical length, the affected rim section separates and a cud is born — each subsequent coin struck by that die carries a raised mass of metal where the design has been replaced by a featureless blob of extruded copper. Five cuds from a single date-mint combination would be a noteworthy total for most issues, but the 1977 Philadelphia date yielded fifteen, placing it among the most prolific cud-producing dates in the Memorial cent series. CU-1C-1977-05 occupies its own distinct position on the die periphery, and precise identification requires comparison of the break's angular location and arc-length against the Cuds on Coins reference images for all documented 1977-P entries. Attribution by Cuds on Coins.

Attribution History

• Discovered by Chuck Newman
• CU-1C-1977-05
• Expert attribution by Cuds on Coins

External References