SKH-1c-1986-09 Spiked Head

Description

Beyond its obverse spiked head, SKH-1c-1986-09 on the 1986 Philadelphia Lincoln Memorial cent carries an additional diagnostic feature that sets it apart from the other fourteen spiked heads documented for this date: the reverse is rotated. A rotated reverse means the die pair was installed with the reverse die misaligned from the standard 180-degree coin turn orientation, so that when the obverse faces upright, the reverse appears tilted rather than properly aligned. This rotation is independent of the spiked head itself — it is a setup error rather than a die failure — but its presence on the same coin makes the variety doubly distinctive for attributors. The spiked head component follows the familiar pattern of a die crack originating at the crown of Lincoln's portrait and propagating outward into the field, while the rotated reverse documents an installation anomaly at the press. Together, these two features make SKH-09 one of the more recognizable entries in the 1986-P spiked head census, since the rotated reverse provides an immediate secondary confirmation point beyond the spike morphology. Collectors should examine any 1986-P spiked head suspect for reverse rotation as a quick test for this specific variety. Struck at Philadelphia (no mint mark) on copper-plated zinc planchets (97.5% zinc, 2.5% copper) at 2.5 grams and 19mm, from the 1986 mintage of 4,491,395,493 cents.

Attribution History

• Discovered by Davy Goncalves
• Cross reference: none. 10/15/2019.
• Expert attribution by Cuds on Coins

External References