SKH-10c-1983P-01 Spiked Head

Description

Representing the earliest Philadelphia Mint Roosevelt Dime spiked head in the early 1980s catalog, SKH-10c-1983P-01 documents a die clash on a date that carries additional numismatic significance — 1983 was the year the Philadelphia Mint transitioned from producing coins without mintmarks to adding the "P" mintmark on dimes (and other denominations except cents), ending a nearly two-century tradition of unmarked Philadelphia coinage for circulating issues. This was only the second year that Philadelphia dimes bore the P mintmark, following the Roosevelt Dime's pioneering adoption of the letter in 1980. The die clash that produced this spiked head occurred when the torch reverse contacted the obverse die without a planchet between them, transferring raised detail that appears as a spike on Roosevelt's portrait. As the sole documented spiked head for 1983-P, this entry may reflect either genuinely low die clash occurrence or the limited scope of systematic dime die variety research during the early 1980s, when collector attention focused overwhelmingly on Lincoln Cent varieties. Cataloged by Cuds on Coins with documentation dated January 15, 2019, this variety helps establish the historical timeline of die clash documentation across the Roosevelt Dime series. The 1983-P dime was struck on copper-nickel clad planchets at a facility that was approaching its bicentennial year of operation.

Attribution History

• Discovered by Paul Manzo
• Cross reference: none. 01/15/2019.
• Expert attribution by Cuds on Coins

External References