CU-1C-1986-06 Cud

Description

The Cuds on Coins census serves as both a catalog and a research instrument, and CU-1C-1986-06 on the 1986 Philadelphia Lincoln Memorial cent contributes one data point to the broader statistical picture that census builds. By systematically documenting each distinct cud die across all dates, mint marks, and denominations, the census enables quantitative analysis of die failure patterns — how many cuds a given date produces, whether certain production years cluster with more failures, and how cud frequency correlates with mintage volume and die technology changes. For the 1986 Philadelphia cent, the twenty cataloged cuds (CU-01 through CU-20R) represent the output of twenty distinct dies that fractured during service. Against the backdrop of 4,491,395,493 coins produced — requiring an estimated several thousand working dies — twenty documented fractures may seem modest, but these represent only the failures that produced specimens subsequently examined and submitted by collectors. The true number of die fractures during the 1986-P production run was certainly higher, with many cud coins either never examined by variety collectors or remaining undiscovered in accumulations. CU-1C-1986-06 is cataloged under its own Cuds on Coins designation. Struck on copper-plated zinc planchets (97.5% zinc, 2.5% copper) at 2.5 grams and 19mm.

Attribution History

• Discovered by Chuck Newman & JC Stevens
• CU-1C-1986-06
• Expert attribution by Cuds on Coins

External References