2015 (P) Lincoln Shield Cent - SKH-1c-2015-09 Spike Head

Description

Documented by the Cuds on Coins attribution service as SKH-1c-2015-09, this spike head variety appears on a 2015 Philadelphia Mint Lincoln Shield cent — one of Lyndall Bass's Shield reverse designs paired with Victor David Brenner's enduring Lincoln portrait obverse. On Lincoln cents, spike head varieties occur where a die crack or die chip develops at the top of Lincoln's head, and the resulting raised metal on struck coins appears as a spike, horn, or antenna projecting upward from the president's cranium. The mechanism is straightforward — under the immense pressures of repeated striking (estimated at 35-60 tons per strike on a modern coining press), stress fractures develop in the die steel, and the area at the apex of Lincoln's head is particularly vulnerable because it represents a high point in the die's incuse cavity where metal fatigue concentrates. The high-volume production of the 2015 Philadelphia issue generated multiple independent instances of this die failure mode. Collectors searching for spike head varieties should examine the area directly above Lincoln's head under 5-10x magnification — the spike typically appears as a thin raised line or blob extending upward from the hair detail into the field, and its presence on multiple coins from the same die confirms it as a die variety rather than a post-strike damage artifact.

External References