CU-50c-1983P-04 Rim Cud

Description

Fourth rim cud cataloged for the 1983 Philadelphia Kennedy Half Dollar (CU-50c-1983P-04), this entry documents yet another die fracture event on the 1983-P production run — a date that evidently consumed working dies at a rate that produced multiple documented rim breaks. The existence of at least four distinct rim cuds (01 through 04) for a single date-mint combination on the Kennedy Half Dollar indicates either an aggressive production schedule that stressed dies to their fatigue limits, metallurgical issues in the die steel batch, or simply the statistical outcome of a large number of working dies in service during the production period. No independent cross-references beyond the Cuds on Coins designation exist. The 1983-P Kennedy Half Dollar was produced only for inclusion in uncirculated mint sets, not for general circulation release — a restricted distribution that makes all 1983-P half dollar varieties somewhat scarcer in the collector marketplace than circulation-issue years. Each of the four documented cuds (01 through 04) represents a separate die that fractured independently, and the specific location, angular extent, and shape of each cud differs according to the unique stress fracture path in each individual die. Gilroy Roberts's Kennedy portrait obverse and Frank Gasparro's heraldic eagle reverse compose the design, struck in copper-nickel clad composition at 11.34 grams and 30.61 mm diameter. The large flan size makes rim cuds on half dollars visually dramatic, with the raised featureless metal creating an unmistakable disruption of the normal rim profile. Examination at low magnification (2x to 5x) reveals the fracture boundary clearly, while comparison against CU-50c-1983P-01, 02, and 03 allows differentiation between the four documented breaks.

Attribution History

• Discovered by Chuck Newman
• CU-50c-1983P-04; number: none.
• Expert attribution by Cuds on Coins

External References