SKH-1c-2008D-01 Spiked Head

Description

Cataloged on the very last Denver Mint Lincoln Memorial Cent ever produced, SKH-1c-2008D-01 documents a die clash variety from the terminal issue of Frank Gasparro's iconic reverse design. The 2008-D holds end-of-era significance: no Denver Mint cent would ever again bear the Lincoln Memorial reverse, as 2009 brought four bicentennial designs and 2010 introduced the Union Shield reverse that remains in production today. This historical context elevates every die variety from the 2008-D beyond its intrinsic characteristics, giving it a bookend quality for Memorial Cent die variety research. The spiked head formed through the standard mechanism — a planchet feed failure allowing the dies to clash and Memorial reverse elements to transfer into the obverse die — producing a raised spike on Lincoln's portrait. As the sole documented spiked head for 2008-D, this variety was cataloged on February 3, 2021, by Cuds on Coins. The Memorial reverse had been in continuous production since 1959, spanning nearly five decades and billions of coins across two mints, and the final Denver Mint issue represents the last opportunity for Memorial reverse die clash events to be documented on Denver-struck coins. Collectors who appreciate terminal-date varieties find special meaning in spiked heads from 2008-D — each one is a last-of-its-kind die event from a design era that produced some of the most recognizable coins in American pocket change. The -01 designation marks this as the primary reference entry for the date, the single known die clash event from Denver's final Memorial Cent production run.

Attribution History

• Discovered by Robert Oney
• Cross reference: none. 02/03/2021.
• Expert attribution by Cuds on Coins

External References