CU-1C-1838-01 Rim Cud

Description

First in the Cuds on Coins catalog for the 1838 Modified Matron Head large cent, CU-1C-1838-01 documents the earliest-listed rim cud for this date — a die failure where a segment of the rim fractured and separated from the working die, creating a raised featureless area on every coin struck thereafter until the die was replaced. As the premier cud listing for 1838, this variety establishes the baseline for die break documentation on a date that would eventually yield at least three cataloged cuds, indicating that die failures were a recurring issue during 1838 large cent production at Philadelphia. The Modified Matron Head design, Christian Gobrecht's refinement of the earlier Matron Head portrait, was in its third year of use in 1838 and would be replaced the following year by Gobrecht's further revision known as the "Silly Head" and "Booby Head" varieties of 1839. Large cent production in the late 1830s used hand-forged dies and screw-type coining presses that imparted tremendous stress at each stroke, and the combination of imperfect die steel with high-force striking created conditions favorable to rim fractures. The 28.5mm copper planchet required significant force to bring the design to full relief, and the repeated cycling of this force through the die — hundreds of thousands of times per die lifetime — inevitably produced fatigue failures. Collectors of early copper cents value cuds as tangible evidence of the manufacturing conditions at the early Philadelphia Mint, and first-listed varieties like CU-1C-1838-01 are particularly sought after for their documentation priority status.

Attribution History

• Discovered by Friscomint1793 on eBay
• CU-1C-1838-01
• Expert attribution by Cuds on Coins

External References