IDB-1c-1855-01 Interior Die Break

Description

First documented interior die break on the 1855 Braided Hair Coronet Head Cent in the Upright 55 date variety, IDB-1c-1855-01 records a fracture that occurred within the die face rather than at the rim — a mechanically distinct failure mode from the more common rim cuds and retained cuds. Interior die breaks develop when subsurface stress accumulations within the die steel cause a section of the design area to fracture and separate from the surrounding die surface, creating a void that fills with metal during striking. The result is a raised, irregularly shaped mass of metal on the coin's surface that sits within the design field rather than at the edge. The 1855 Braided Hair Cent, designed by Christian Gobrecht as a modification of Matron Head motifs, was struck at the Philadelphia Mint during the twilight of the large cent denomination — only two years remained before the large cent was replaced by the smaller Flying Eagle Cent in 1857. The "Upright 55" date style distinguishes this variety from the "Slanted 55" variant, which has its own separate interior die break entry. Large cents of this era were struck on substantial copper planchets approximately 27.5mm in diameter and weighing about 10.9 grams, and the forces required to impress the Braided Hair design into these heavy planchets placed considerable stress on the relatively small dies. Interior die breaks on early copper coinage are uncommon compared to rim failures, making this first-in-sequence variety a notable entry in the pre-Civil War die variety catalog. Cataloged by Cuds on Coins with no known cross-references, this variety documents a die failure mechanism that predates most systematic die variety research by more than a century.

Attribution History

• Discovered by Westcoastcoinsoregon on ebay
• Expert attribution by Cuds on Coins

External References