RCD-25c-1983P-01 Retained Cud

Description

On this 1983 Philadelphia Mint Washington Quarter, a section of the die rim cracked but did not fully separate, producing a retained cud where the broken fragment stayed in place during striking. Unlike a full cud — which creates a raised featureless blob where the separated die section left a cavity — a retained cud shows the crack line while preserving much of the original design detail beneath the fractured piece, because the fragment continued to strike coins from its nearly original position. Cross-referenced as WQC-83P-1 & 2R in the specialized Washington Quarter cud catalog, this variety was documented by the Cuds on Coins research team. The 1983-P quarter was struck during a period when Philadelphia had recently dropped the "P" mintmark experiment introduced in 1980, and production volumes remained high through the clad era. Retained cuds form when the mechanical forces of striking create stress concentrations at the die rim, initiating a crack that propagates along the rim edge but lacks sufficient force to eject the broken piece. The result is a coin that shows evidence of die failure — the visible crack and slight displacement — while retaining recognizable design elements in the affected area, making retained cuds distinct from both pre-cuds and full cuds in the die break progression.

Attribution History

• Cross reference number: WQC-83P-1 & 2R. See RCD-25c-1983P-01.
• Expert attribution by Cuds on Coins

External References