CU-1C-1987-12 Cud

Description

Rounding out the main sequence of 1987 Lincoln Memorial cent cuds cataloged without a mint mark suffix, CU-1C-1987-12 is the twelfth variety in the Cuds on Coins reference for this date. Twelve cuds from a single date represent a substantial census, though it is far from unprecedented among high-mintage Lincoln cents — some dates with comparable or higher production volumes have yielded even larger cud counts, reflecting the direct relationship between die consumption and observable die failure events. The value of maintaining a complete cud catalog extends beyond individual collector interest: the data informs our understanding of quality control practices at the Mint, since the number of cud coins that survive to be cataloged provides indirect evidence of how quickly broken dies were detected and removed from service. Rapid detection would limit each cud variety to a small number of struck examples, while delayed detection could yield hundreds or thousands of cud coins from a single die. Cuds on Coins has built one of the most comprehensive die break databases in numismatics, covering cents, nickels, dimes, quarters, half dollars, and dollars across the full span of modern U.S. coinage. Struck at Philadelphia on copper-plated zinc planchets (97.5% zinc, 2.5% copper) at 2.5 grams and 19mm, from the enormous 1987 production run of 4,682,466,931 cents.

Attribution History

• Discovered by Marvin L
• CU-1C-1987-12
• Expert attribution by Cuds on Coins

External References