SKH-1c-2006-01 Spiked Head

Description

First spiked head documented for the 2006 Philadelphia Mint Lincoln Memorial Cent, this variety was cataloged by Cuds on Coins on September 23, 2016, establishing the date's presence in the spiked head record during the early years of systematic Memorial Cent die clash research. The 2006-P represents the third-to-last year of the Lincoln Memorial reverse design, which would end its nearly five-decade run after the 2008 production year. Die clashes on the 2006-P produced their characteristic spikes through the same mechanism active since the Memorial design's 1959 debut: the coining press cycled without a planchet, the obverse and reverse dies struck each other, and the Memorial's twelve columns and classical architecture transferred into the obverse die face. The resulting spike on Lincoln's portrait varies with each clash event, and this inaugural entry for the 2006-P documents the first confirmed die pair from the date to have experienced such an event. Philadelphia's 2006 cent production generated over four billion coins, requiring extensive die pair usage that ensured ample statistical opportunity for planchet feed failures and subsequent die clashes. The -01 designation marks this variety as the foundation of the 2006-P spiked head catalog, which would eventually grow to five confirmed entries. Collectors who acquired this variety during its initial documentation period in 2016 secured one of the earliest confirmed examples from a date that combines late-series Memorial Cent design significance with the familiar die clash mechanics that have fascinated variety hunters for decades.

Attribution History

• Discovered by Christopher Rhodes
• Cross reference: none. 09/23/2016.
• Expert attribution by Cuds on Coins

External References