CU-1c-1846-3 Cud

Description

Bearing the third documented cud position for the 1846 date, CU-1c-1846-3 records a major die break on the Braided Hair Coronet Head Cent — Medium Date variety. Christian Gobrecht's Braided Hair design, introduced in 1839, features Liberty facing left with her hair pulled back in a braided bun and secured by a beaded cord, surrounded by thirteen stars. The large copper cent's substantial 27.5mm diameter and roughly 10.89-gram weight made its dies particularly vulnerable to rim fractures, as the high striking pressures needed to fully bring up the design on such a large planchet concentrated enormous stress at the die's peripheral edges. The 1846 Medium Date variety represents one of the date-size variants that collectors of this series actively differentiate, alongside the Small Date and Tall Date subtypes, each produced from distinct date logotypes punched into the working die at slightly different sizes. No cross-references to other cataloging systems have been identified for this cud. Pre-Civil War large cent dies were manufactured through a multi-step process involving master hubs, master dies, and working hubs before reaching the working die stage, and each transfer introduced opportunities for both hub doubling and accumulated die stress. The Braided Hair series ran from 1839 through the final large cent production in 1857, when the denomination was replaced by the smaller Flying Eagle Cent. Cud errors on these early copper issues carry particular numismatic interest because surviving examples are inherently scarcer than cuds on later, higher-mintage series, and the large flan size makes rim breaks visually dramatic against the surrounding design elements.

Attribution History

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

External References