2004 (P) Lincoln Memorial Cent - SKH-1c-2004-01 Spiked Head

Description

Opening the spiked head catalog for the 2004 Philadelphia Mint Lincoln Memorial Cent, SKH-1c-2004-01 was documented on March 24, 2016, by Cuds on Coins and stands as the earliest cataloged spiked head for this date. The year 2004 is notable in the broader context of Lincoln Cent history as the penultimate year before the United States Mint began planning the four 2009 bicentennial reverse designs commemorating Lincoln's birth, formative years, professional life, and presidency — a program that would temporarily retire the Memorial reverse after fifty years of continuous use. A spiked head is a die crack or break at the top of Lincoln's head: planchet metal fills the crack during striking and stands up from the portrait as a raised spike. Philadelphia produced billions of cents in 2004, consuming hundreds of die pairs across the production year. The -01 designation marks this as a foundational entry, the reference point against which any future 2004-P spiked head discoveries would be compared and cataloged.

Cross References

• Cross reference: none. 03/24/2016.

External References