SKH-1c-2008-04 Spiked Head

Description

Fourth spiked head from the final year of Lincoln Memorial Cent production, the 2008-P SKH-1c-2008-04 occupies a uniquely terminal position in die clash variety history. After 2008, the Lincoln Memorial reverse was retired permanently — replaced by four rotating bicentennial designs in 2009 and then the Union Shield in 2010 — meaning that no future spiked heads would ever again carry the Memorial's columnar architecture as their transferred design source. This fourth entry was cataloged by Cuds on Coins on September 20, 2017, and it documents a die pair distinct from the three previously cataloged varieties. The clash event that created this spike occurred when the press cycled without a planchet, the Memorial reverse contacted the obverse die, and the Memorial's design features — columns, entablature, steps, and inscriptions — impressed into the die surface. The resulting spike on Lincoln's portrait carries a geometry specific to this fourth die pair's alignment at the moment of clash. The 2008-P's production of over 2.5 billion cents at the Philadelphia Mint ensured that hundreds of die pairs were consumed during the year, and four confirmed clash events represents a moderate but meaningful sample of the die pair population. For collectors of transitional-era numismatic varieties, the 2008-P spiked heads represent the last chapter of a story that began when Frank Gasparro's Lincoln Memorial reverse first paired with Brenner's portrait in 1959. Each of the 2008-P's documented spiked heads is, in a sense, a farewell impression from a design that served American coinage for nearly half a century.

Attribution History

• Discovered by Keith Christenson
• Cross reference: none. 09/20/2017.
• Expert attribution by Cuds on Coins

External References