PC-5c-1883-04R Pre-Cud

Description

Featuring two mounds within the pre-cud zone running from approximately the 4:30 to 6:00 clock position through NTS of CENTS and touching the rim three times, this pre-cud on an 1883 Liberty Head V Nickel with CENTS represents a die crack from the first full year of the redesigned reverse. The original 1883 Liberty Head Nickel launched without the word CENTS, leading to widespread gold-plating fraud where the nickel-sized coins were passed as five-dollar gold pieces. The Mint quickly added CENTS to the reverse partway through 1883, creating two distinct subtypes for the year. This pre-cud appears on the with-CENTS variety, the corrected design that would continue through the end of the series in 1912. A pre-cud captures the stage where a rim-to-rim die crack has formed but the fractured section has not yet separated — the precursor to a full cud. The two mounds within the cracked area indicate the die surface had begun to deform along the fracture line, bulging outward in two spots, which would transfer as raised areas on struck coins. The triple rim contact points describe a crack path that crosses the rim edge three times, creating a complex fracture geometry. Cataloged by Cuds on Coins with no additional cross-references, this remains the fourth documented pre-cud on the reverse for the 1883 with-CENTS V Nickel.

Attribution History

• Discovered by Chuck Newman
• Expert attribution by Cuds on Coins

External References