SKH-1c-2008-05 Spiked Head

Description

Fifth spiked head in the 2008 sequence, SKH-1c-2008-05 extends the final-year Memorial cent's die variety record to at least five documented portrait-rim fractures. Five entries for the Memorial design's last production year provides a fitting coda — not an extraordinary count by any standard, but enough to confirm that spiked heads accompanied the design to the very end. From the Memorial reverse's 1959 debut through its 2008 conclusion, spiked heads appeared with reliable frequency, forming a continuous thread of die failure documentation spanning nearly half a century of American cent production. The 2008 Philadelphia cent was identical in composition and dimension to every Memorial cent struck since 1982: copper-plated zinc at 2.5 grams and 19mm. Brenner's portrait, soon to celebrate its centennial in 2009, generated the same die stress geometry that had produced spiked heads across every decade of its existence. Cuds on Coins records this fifth variety as part of the Memorial reverse's terminal-year catalog, the last entries before the design transition that would bring new reverse dies — and new stress patterns — to the Lincoln cent.

Attribution History

• Discovered by Donald Carite
• Expert attribution by Cuds on Coins

External References