RCD-2000C-1874S-01R Retained Cud

Description

Remarkably documented on an 1874-S Liberty Head Double Eagle — the largest regular-issue gold denomination in American coinage history — this retained cud variety stands as one of the most dramatic die failure records in the numismatic catalog due to the extraordinary value of the host coin. The Liberty Head Double Eagle, carrying a face value of twenty dollars and containing nearly one ounce of gold (0.9675 troy ounces), was the workhorse of international commerce and domestic banking throughout the second half of the nineteenth century. A retained cud on this denomination means that a reverse die rim fracture occurred during production, but the broken section remained in place rather than separating — producing a cracked, distorted area at the rim that retains partial design detail. The first and only documented retained cud for the 1874-S date, this variety was struck at the San Francisco Mint, which handled enormous volumes of gold coinage during the post-Gold Rush era when Pacific Coast commerce demanded hard money. The "R" suffix confirms the reverse die location of the fracture, where James B. Longacre's heraldic eagle design would have been affected. Cataloged by Cuds on Coins under the designation RCD-2000C-1874S-01R, this variety exists at the intersection of gold coin collecting and die variety specialization — two numismatic disciplines that rarely overlap due to the cost barriers inherent in examining gold coins for subtle die anomalies.

Attribution History

• Discovered by Robert Rioux
• RCD-2000C-1874S-01R
• Expert attribution by Cuds on Coins

External References