2023 (P) Lincoln Shield Cent - SKH-1c-2023-07 Spiked Head

Description

SKH-1c-2023-07 is a spiked head cataloged for the 2023-P Lincoln Shield cent. The 2023-P cent, produced in the billions as part of Philadelphia's continued high-volume cent operations, carries Victor David Brenner's obverse Lincoln portrait that has served as the design foundation since 1909 alongside Lyndall Bass's Union Shield reverse introduced in 2010. The spiked head formation mechanism remains consistent across all Lincoln cent dates: narrow ridges of die steel within the incuse portrait fracture under cyclic striking stress, and planchet metal fills the resulting channels to create thin raised projections on finished coins. Modern cent production at Philadelphia employs high-speed presses that impose rapid-cycle loading on dies, and the copper-plated zinc composition adopted in 1982 flows readily into die cracks, making even fine fractures produce detectable spikes. The 2023-P cent exists in a numismatic context where variety collecting has been transformed by digital microscopy and online reporting — discoveries can be shared, confirmed, and cataloged within days of a coin's release rather than the months or years that earlier generations of collectors required. The Cuds on Coins service provides diagnostic images for each cataloged variety. Collectors examining potential 2023-P spiked heads should use 10-15x magnification to identify the raised projection and consult reference images to determine which variety matches their specimen's spike position and characteristics. No cross-references to other attribution systems are recorded.

Cross References

• Cross reference: none. 12/12/2024.

External References