CU-1c-1882-02 Rim Cud

Description

The second documented rim cud for the 1882 Indian Head Cent, CU-1c-1882-02 records a die rim failure on a date with a mintage of approximately 38.6 million pieces — nearly identical to the preceding year's output, reflecting the steady production rhythms of the Philadelphia Mint during the early 1880s. The cud formed when a portion of the die's rim fractured and separated, leaving a gap that planchet metal filled during striking, producing the characteristic raised, featureless area at the coin's edge. Two documented cuds for 1882 indicates that at least two separate working dies experienced rim failures significant enough to produce identifiable cud varieties. The Indian Head Cent was by this point a mature design — twenty-three years into its production run — and the Philadelphia Mint had refined its die-making processes considerably since the series' introduction in 1859. The bronze composition continued to perform consistently, though the repetitive stress of striking inevitably weakened die rims over time, particularly where design elements created stress concentration points. CU-1c-1882-02 preserves one such failure from the early years of the American Gilded Age.

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