SKH-1c-2018-02 Spiked Head

Description

Second spiked head in the 2018 Philadelphia Mint Lincoln Shield Cent sequence, this early entry signals the beginning of die clash documentation for the ninth year of Shield Cent production. When a planchet fails to feed between the dies during coining, the obverse and reverse strike each other directly in a die clash event. The Union Shield reverse — with its bold vertical stripes representing the thirteen original colonies and horizontal band symbolizing the binding force of Congress — impresses its geometric design into the obverse die, and subsequent strikes produce coins with a raised spike projecting from Lincoln's head. The second entry's early position in the sequence indicates that researchers identified multiple spiked heads during initial examination of the 2018-P population, setting the stage for further discoveries as more coins were searched. The 2018-P cent was produced at Philadelphia in quantities exceeding a billion coins, ensuring that hundreds of die pairs were consumed and die clash events remained statistically predictable. SKH-1c-2018-02 is cataloged by Cuds on Coins. Early-sequence spiked heads like this -02 entry often represent the first wave of discoveries, with higher-numbered varieties following as systematic searching continues across the date's available population.

Attribution History

• Discovered by Tyler Colvin
• Cross reference: none. 05/11/2018.
• Expert attribution by Cuds on Coins

External References