CU-1C-1796-01R Rim Cud

Description

Struck during the final year of the Liberty Cap large cent series, this 1796 rim cud represents one of the earliest documented cud errors in American numismatics. Cataloged as CU-1C-1796-01R, the variety preserves a marginal die break — a piece of the die rim fractured and separated, leaving a raised, featureless blob of metal at the coin's edge where the broken segment no longer imparted design detail. The Liberty Cap cent, produced from 1793 through 1796, was among the first regular-issue copper coinage struck at the Philadelphia Mint, which had been in operation for only three years when this die failed. These large copper planchets were struck on hand-operated screw presses, and the stresses of repeated striking on early Mint equipment — combined with imperfect die steel metallurgy — made rim fractures an ever-present risk. Cud errors on pre-1800 American coinage are exceedingly rare, as the total number of working dies produced in the Mint's earliest years was small and surviving examples from any given die are scarce. The Liberty Cap design, attributed to Joseph Wright and John Smith Gardner, gave way to the Draped Bust motif in 1796.

Attribution History

• Discovered by Friscomint1793 on eBay
• CU-1C-1796-01R; none.
• Expert attribution by Cuds on Coins

External References