CU-1C-1846-03 Rim Cud

Description

Third rim cud documented for the 1846 Small Date Braided Hair Cent, this variety adds to the small but growing record of die rim failures on early American copper coinage. A rim cud forms when a piece of the die rim breaks away entirely, and the resulting cavity fills with metal during striking to produce a raised featureless mass at the coin's edge. Three documented cuds for the 1846 Small Date suggests that the dies used for this date variant experienced notable rim stress — perhaps related to the specific die steel, the die's total strike count, or the composition of the copper planchets used that year. The Braided Hair large cent, designed by Christian Gobrecht and struck from 1839 to 1857, was the last in the large cent series before the smaller Flying Eagle cent replaced it. These coins saw heavy commercial circulation in an era when cents had meaningful purchasing power, and surviving examples with die varieties are tracked through the Newcomb and Breen reference systems. Cataloged by Cuds on Coins, CU-1C-1846-03 follows the second documented cud for this date, building a sequential record of rim failures across the die pairs used for the 1846 Small Date production.

Attribution History

• Discovered by Friscomint1793 on eBay
• CU-1C-1846-03
• Expert attribution by Cuds on Coins

External References