2005 (P) West Virginia State Quarter - PC-25c-2005P-02R(WV) Pre-Cud

Description

Documented by the Cuds on Coins attribution service as PC-25c-2005P-02R(WV), this variety is a reverse pre-cud on a 2005 Philadelphia West Virginia State Quarter — part of the 50 State Quarters Program that ran from 1999 through 2008. The West Virginia quarter reverse, designed by John Mercanti, depicts the New River Gorge Bridge spanning a mountain valley with the caption "New River Gorge". Pre-cuds represent the earliest observable stage in the die break progression that can ultimately lead to retained cuds and full cuds: a crack has developed in the die extending from the rim into the design field, but no metal displacement has yet occurred — the crack transfers to struck coins as a fine raised line tracing the fracture path through the die steel. This stage is significant because it documents the die at a moment before structural failure has advanced to the point of distorting the coin's surface, providing researchers with evidence of where and how die cracks initiate under production stress. Philadelphia struck approximately 365.4 million West Virginia quarters in 2005, consuming numerous die pairs across the production run. The reverse die position (indicated by the R suffix) places this crack on the side bearing Mercanti's bridge design, where the detailed topography of mountains, bridge structure, and text inscription provides a rich landscape across which the crack's path can be traced. Collectors should examine the reverse rim area carefully under 10-15x magnification with angled lighting to reveal the fine raised line that marks the pre-cud crack — it will appear as a hair-thin raised ridge extending from the rim into the adjacent design elements.

External References