SKH-1c-2005-02 Spiked Head

Description

Cataloged nearly two years after the first 2005-P spiked head, this second entry for the date was documented on September 1, 2018, by Cuds on Coins — illustrating how die variety research unfolds incrementally over extended periods. SKH-1c-2005-02 records a second distinct die clash event on the 2005 Philadelphia Mint Lincoln Memorial Cent, where a different die pair experienced a planchet feed failure that caused the dies to contact each other directly. The Memorial reverse's Lincoln Memorial building, with its columned facade and architectural details designed by Frank Gasparro, impressed into the obverse die during this clash, creating a raised spike on Lincoln's portrait at a position and angle distinct from the first documented variety. Two spiked heads from 2005-P is a modest catalog, though the gap between cataloging dates — October 2016 for the first and September 2018 for the second — suggests that examination of the 2005-P population has been sporadic rather than systematic, leaving open the possibility of undiscovered varieties. The 2005-P cent was the forty-seventh year of Memorial reverse production, a period when die manufacturing processes were highly refined and the basic designs had been in use long enough that production was routine. Memorial Cent spiked heads require closer examination than their Shield Cent counterparts due to the subtler clash impressions, and the relatively low counts on individual Memorial Cent dates may partly reflect the greater difficulty of detection rather than fewer clash events occurring during production.

Attribution History

• Discovered by Alan English
• Cross reference: none. 09/01/2018.
• Expert attribution by Cuds on Coins

External References