CU-1C-1798-03 Cud

Description

Struck from dies where an 8 was punched over a 7 in the date — a cost-saving measure that allowed the Philadelphia Mint to reuse 1797 dies for the following year's production — this third documented cud on the 1798/7 Overdate Draped Bust Cent combines two distinct numismatic phenomena on a single coin. The overdate itself records the Mint's practice of modifying existing dies rather than sinking entirely new ones, while the cud documents subsequent die failure when a section of the rim fractured and separated during striking. Robert Scot's Draped Bust design featured Liberty in flowing drapery on the obverse and a simple wreath on the reverse, rendered on large copper planchets that required substantial striking pressure from the Mint's hand-operated screw presses. Early federal coinage from the 1790s survives in limited numbers, and die varieties on these issues are studied with particular intensity because each die was individually hand-engraved, making every working die a unique artifact. Cataloged by Cuds on Coins, this cud on the 1798/7 overdate represents one of multiple rim failures documented for this die pairing.

Attribution History

• Discovered by Friscomint1793 on eBay
• CU-1C-1798-03
• Expert attribution by Cuds on Coins

External References