RCD-1c-1890-01R Retained Cud

Description

Cataloged as the first retained cud for the 1890 Indian Head Cent, the RCD-1c-1890-01R documents die rim failure during the mature period of James B. Longacre's design — three decades into the series' fifty-year production run. By 1890, the Philadelphia Mint had struck Indian Head Cents for over thirty consecutive years, accumulating considerable experience with the design's die characteristics and failure patterns. The 1890 date saw production of approximately 57.1 million cents, a substantial volume that required numerous working dies and created ample opportunity for die failures including retained cuds. A retained cud forms when a rim fragment cracks but does not separate, creating a raised mass of metal on struck coins that carries distorted traces of the original die engraving. The sole retained cud status for such a high-mintage date is somewhat surprising and likely indicates that additional specimens remain undiscovered rather than that the dies were failure-free. Attributed by Cuds on Coins, this variety falls in the pre-Spanish-American War era of American coinage, when the Indian Head Cent circulated alongside Barber dimes, quarters, and half dollars as the workhorse small change of American commerce.

Attribution History

• Discovered by Daniel Carr
• Expert attribution by Cuds on Coins

External References