1851 Liberty Head Quarter Eagle - PC-250c(Au)-1851-01 Pre-Cud

Description

This 1851 Liberty Head gold quarter eagle carries a pre-cud documented in the Cuds on Coins catalog. Designated PC-250c(Au)-1851-01, this pre-cud on the Liberty Head Quarter Eagle series (1840-1907) dates from the height of the California Gold Rush era, when massive quantities of newly discovered gold flooded into the Philadelphia Mint for coinage. The Liberty Head design by Christian Gobrecht features Liberty wearing a coronet inscribed LIBERTY on the obverse, with a heraldic eagle and shield on the reverse. Unlike the later Indian Head Quarter Eagle with its incuse design, the Liberty Head carries conventional raised relief, meaning the pre-cud die crack transfers to struck coins as a raised line or ridge across the surface. Pre-cuds represent an intermediate stage of die deterioration — the die has cracked, but the section beyond the crack has not broken away to create the raised blob of metal that characterizes a full cud. Struck in 90% gold at 18 mm and 4.18 grams.

External References