RIDB-1c-2010-01 Retained Interior Die Break

Description

Cataloged by Cuds on Coins, the RIDB-1c-2010-01 is the first documented retained interior die break on the 2010 Lincoln Shield Cent — the inaugural year of Lyndall Bass's Union shield reverse design that replaced the Lincoln Memorial reverse used from 1959 to 2008, following a one-year interlude of four different bicentennial reverses in 2009. Retained interior die breaks differ from cuds and pre-cuds in their location: rather than occurring at the rim's edge, an interior die break involves a fracture within the design field itself, where a piece of die steel breaks loose but remains trapped in position by surrounding die material. The result on struck coins is a raised irregular outline within the design area, often enclosing a section of slightly altered detail where the trapped fragment may have shifted during striking. First-year die varieties from the Lincoln Shield Cent's debut production document the initial performance of dies bearing the new design, and interior die breaks on the detailed shield reverse — with its horizontal lines, vertical stripes, and E PLURIBUS UNUM banner — can produce visually distinctive raised outlines within the intricate design elements.

Attribution History

• Discovered by Earl M
• Expert attribution by Cuds on Coins

External References