CU-1c-1847-3 Cud

Description

Third documented cud for the 1847 Braided Hair Coronet Head Cent, this variety preserves a major die break at the rim where a piece of the die broke away entirely, leaving a cavity that filled with metal during striking to create a raised featureless blob at the edge of the coin. The Braided Hair large cent, designed by Christian Gobrecht, was struck at the Philadelphia Mint from 1839 through 1857 as the final iteration of the large cent denomination that had been produced since 1793. These hefty copper coins weighed approximately 10.89 grams with a diameter of 27.5 millimeters — substantially larger than the small cents that replaced them in 1857. The 1847 date falls in the middle of the Braided Hair series, struck during the era of westward expansion and the Mexican-American War. Large cent dies of this period were produced through hand-engraving processes that created variability in die steel quality and stress distribution, and the detailed hair braiding pattern on the obverse introduced areas of thinner die steel where fractures could initiate. Cuds on pre-Civil War copper coinage are relatively scarce in specialized catalogs compared to later issues, making this variety of particular interest to collectors of early American copper varieties. Cataloged by Cuds on Coins, this cud represents die failure on one of America's earliest and most historic coin types.

Attribution History

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

External References