SKH-1c-2008-03 Spiked Head

Description

Produced during the final year of the Lincoln Memorial reverse design, the 2008-P Lincoln Memorial Cent holds a special transitional significance in numismatic history, and SKH-1c-2008-03 documents the third spiked head variety from this terminal date. After 2008, the Memorial reverse was retired in favor of four rotating bicentennial designs in 2009 before the permanent Union Shield reverse debuted in 2010. This means the 2008-P represents the last production year in which the Memorial's columns and architectural features could transfer into the obverse die during a clash event — a mechanism that had been generating spiked heads across nearly five decades of Memorial Cent production since 1959. The third spiked head for this date indicates that multiple die pairs experienced clash events during the 2008-P production run, which generated over 2.5 billion cents at the Philadelphia Mint. Each clash event produces a unique spike on Lincoln's portrait, with the transferred Memorial design elements creating raised projections whose characteristics serve as diagnostic fingerprints. Cataloged by Cuds on Coins on April 2, 2017, this variety contributes to the historical record of die clash activity during the Memorial Cent's concluding chapter. Collectors who pursue spiked heads by design type regard 2008-P varieties as terminus entries, marking the end of an era in which the Memorial reverse was the source of transferred design elements on Lincoln cent die clashes.

Attribution History

• Discovered by Chuck Newman
• Cross reference: none. 04/02/2017.
• Expert attribution by Cuds on Coins

External References