CU-1C-1980-17 Cud

Description

Reaching the seventeenth confirmed cud for the 1980 Philadelphia cent, CU-1C-1980-17 demonstrates that die rim failures at the Philadelphia Mint during this production year were far from isolated incidents. High-speed coining presses operating at hundreds of strikes per minute subject dies to enormous thermal and mechanical cycling, and the cumulative effect of these forces makes rim fractures statistically inevitable across a large enough die inventory. What makes the 1980 Philadelphia census noteworthy is not that cuds occurred — they occur for nearly every date — but rather the volume of distinctly different dies that experienced terminal rim failure and were subsequently documented. CU-1C-1980-17 was cataloged after confirmation that its rim break did not correspond to any of the sixteen previously recorded varieties. As with all entries in this census, the variety appears on cents struck from 95% copper, 5% zinc planchets bearing the P mintmark — the first year Philadelphia's mark appeared on the one-cent denomination. Attribution by Cuds on Coins.

Attribution History

• Discovered by David Snider
• CU-1C-1980-17
• Expert attribution by Cuds on Coins

External References