CU-1c-1982-14(LD) Cud

Description

Sharing the CU-1c-1982-14(LD) designation with its bronze counterpart, this interior cud appears on the Zinc Large Date subtype at 2.5 grams — the copper-plated zinc planchet that replaced the traditional bronze composition during mid-1982 production. The existence of this zinc twin confirms that the die bearing the CU-14(LD) fracture was not retired when the planchet supply changed but continued pressing coins on the new lighter blanks, capturing the same break geometry on a fundamentally different metallic substrate. For researchers studying how alloy composition interacts with die failure, each Bronze/Zinc pair provides a natural experiment: the die is the constant, the planchet is the variable, and the resulting cud's physical characteristics — surface texture, edge definition, metal flow patterns within the void — are the measurable outcomes. The zinc planchet's layered structure, with its thin copper coating over a nearly pure zinc core, introduces a compositional complexity absent from the homogeneous bronze alloy, and this complexity can manifest in subtle ways at the cud's surface, where the plating may stretch or thin differently over the raised displaced metal than it does across the flat design field. Attribution by Cuds on Coins.

Attribution History

• Discovered by Steve Young
• Expert attribution by Cuds on Coins

External References