RCD-10c-1832-01R Retained Cud

Description

Cataloged by the Cuds on Coins attribution service, RCD-10c-1832-01R documents a retained cud on the reverse of an 1832 Capped Bust dime — one of the earliest denominations to exhibit this form of die deterioration in the American series. The designation follows standard nomenclature: RCD for retained cud, 10c for the dime denomination, 1832 for the date, 01 as the first cataloged reverse retained cud for this issue, and the R suffix confirming the variety appears on the reverse. Retained cuds form when a section of the die rim fractures and begins to separate from the die body but remains physically attached, creating a distinctive raised irregular area on the struck coin that bridges the gap between normal rim detail and the displaced die fragment. William Kneass designed the Capped Bust dime, which was produced from 1809 through 1837 with a portrait of Liberty wearing a mobcap-style bonnet on the obverse and a heraldic eagle on the reverse. Philadelphia struck all Capped Bust dimes, and the 1832 issue saw production of approximately 522,500 pieces — a modest quantity that required relatively few die pairs. The appearance of a retained cud on an early nineteenth-century dime provides tangible evidence of the mechanical stresses that working dies endured during the screw-press era, when coining pressure was generated by manual operation of a weighted flywheel arm. Die steel metallurgy in the 1830s had not yet benefited from the advances in alloy composition that would later extend die life, making rim fractures a more frequent occurrence than in subsequent decades. Collectors encountering this variety should look for a raised, irregularly textured area along the reverse rim where the die fragment remained attached during striking, creating a distinctive swelling that contrasts with the sharply defined rim detail on unaffected portions of the coin.

Attribution History

• Discovered by Fred Weinberg
• Expert attribution by Cuds on Coins

External References