CU-1c-1846-2 Cud

Description

Second documented rim cud for the 1846 Braided Hair Coronet Head Cent in the Medium Date subvariety, CU-1c-1846-2 records a die rim fracture event on a large cent die from the mid-1840s — a period when the Philadelphia Mint was the sole U.S. minting facility producing one-cent coins. Christian Gobrecht's Braided Hair design, which replaced the Matron Head variant in 1839 and continued through 1857, features a left-facing Liberty portrait with her hair in an elaborate braided arrangement, encircled by thirteen stars representing the original colonies. The reverse displays a laurel wreath surrounding the denomination ONE CENT within UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. When a segment of the die rim breaks away, the resulting cud appears as a raised, featureless mass at the coin's edge, obliterating whatever portion of the design occupied that zone — whether a star, a letter, or a section of the denticulated border. The "Medium Date" designation distinguishes this die's date logotype from the Small Date and Large Date variants also known for 1846, reflecting the hand-punched nature of date application at this point in Mint history. The Cuds on Coins catalog lists no additional cross-references for this variety. The 1846 Large Cent had a mintage of 4,120,800 pieces struck on copper planchets weighing approximately 10.89 grams and measuring 27.5mm in diameter. Early-to-mid-19th-century copper cent dies were subject to substantial striking stress due to the large planchet size and the hardness disparity between die steel and copper, making rim fractures a recurring feature of large cent production that modern collectors have systematically documented across the entire Braided Hair series.

Attribution History

• Discovered by Friscomint1793 on eBay
• Expert attribution by Cuds on Coins

External References