DC-10c-1989D-01 Die Chip

Description

Unlike rim cuds, which occur at the die's periphery, a die chip represents a small fragment of die steel that breaks away from the interior of the die face. DC-10c-1989D-01 catalogs the first confirmed die chip on the 1989 Denver Roosevelt dime. The distinction matters: cuds involve fractures that reach the rim, producing large raised areas at the coin's edge, while die chips are typically smaller, interior events — tiny pits in the die surface that fill with metal during striking and appear as raised dots or irregular lumps on the finished coin. Die chips can occur anywhere on the design: within letters, across devices, or in open fields. On a dime's compact design, even a small chip is readily noticeable under moderate magnification. Denver's 1989 dime production of nearly 896 million pieces required continuous die rotation, and the high striking speeds of modern coining presses generate the kind of localized stress concentrations that nucleate interior fractures. As the sole cataloged die chip for this date and mint, DC-10c-1989D-01 documents a specific failure event distinguishable by the chip's position and size relative to surrounding design elements.

Attribution History

• Discovered by Fred Weinberg
• Expert attribution by Cuds on Coins

External References