SKH-1c-2021-19 Spiked Head

Description

As pandemic-era disruptions eased and Philadelphia ramped production toward normal levels, the 2021 Lincoln Shield Cent generated a resurgence in spiked head documentation. SKH-1c-2021-19 is the nineteenth cataloged variety for the year, and with at least fifty-eight confirmed entries, 2021 approached the extraordinary totals seen in 2015. The post-pandemic ramp may have contributed to increased die cracking: higher throughput means faster cycling of dies, shorter intervals between changes, and less conservative retirement thresholds. Alternatively, the recovery of collector activity — coin shows resuming, roll supplies normalizing, online submissions remaining active — may have boosted the cataloging rate. Likely both factors converged. Nineteen of fifty-eight places this entry in the first third of the 2021 sequence, part of a growing census that Cuds on Coins continued to expand throughout the year. The Shield Cent by 2021 was in its twelfth year of production, a mature design whose die performance characteristics were well understood by Mint engineers and collectors alike. Philadelphia remained the primary source of circulating cents, producing them by the billions.

Attribution History

• Discovered by Thomas DeHart
• Expert attribution by Cuds on Coins

External References